Manny's Reviews > Dune
Dune (Dune #1)
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Manny's review
bookshelves: science-fiction, if-research-were-romance, islam-and-arabic
Nov 20, 2008
bookshelves: science-fiction, if-research-were-romance, islam-and-arabic
Read 5 times. Last read January 1, 1970.
There's a characteristically witty essay by Borges about a man who rewrites Don Quixote, many centuries after Cervantes. He publishes a novel with the same title, containing the same words in the same order. But, as Borges shows you, the different cultural context means it's a completely new book! What was once trite and commonplace is now daring and new, and vice versa. It just happens to look like Cervantes's masterpiece.
Similarly, imagine the man who was brave or stupid enough to rewrite Dune in the early 21st century. Like many people who grew up in the 60s and 70s, I read the book in my early teens. What an amazing story! Those kick-ass Fremen! All those cool, weird-sounding names and expressions they use! (They even have a useful glossary in the back). The disgusting, corrupt, slimy Harkonnens - don't you just love to hate them! When former-aristo-turned-desert-guerilla-fighter Paul Muad'Dib rides in on a sandworm at the end to fight the evil Baron and his vicious, cruel nephew, of course you're cheering for him. Who the hell wouldn't be?
So that was the Dune we know and love, but the man who rewrote it now would get a rather different reception. Oh my God! These Fremen, who obviously speak Arabic, live on a desert planet which supplies the Universe with melange, a commodity essential to the Galactic economy, and in particular to transport. Not a very subtle way to say "oil"! They are tough, uncompromising fighters, who are quite happy to use suicide bombing as a tactic. They're led by a charismatic former rich kid (OK, we get who you mean), who inspires them to rise up against the corrupt, degenerate... um, does he mean Westerners? Or only the US? And who is Baron Harkonnen intended to be? I'm racking my brains... Dubya doesn't quite seem to fit, but surely he means someone? Unless, of course, he's just a generic stereotype who stands for the immoral, sexually obsessed West. This is frightening. What did we do to make Frank al-Herbert hate us so much? You'd have people, not even necessarily right-wingers, appearing on TV to say that the book was dangerous, and should be banned: at the very least, it incites racial hatred, and openly encourages terrorism. But translations would sell brilliantly in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and a bad movie version would soon be made in Turkey.
I honestly don't think Herbert meant any of that; but today, it's almost impossible not to wonder. If anyone reading this review is planning to rewrite The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, you'd better make sure you get your timing right. Who knows how it will be interpreted five years from now?
Similarly, imagine the man who was brave or stupid enough to rewrite Dune in the early 21st century. Like many people who grew up in the 60s and 70s, I read the book in my early teens. What an amazing story! Those kick-ass Fremen! All those cool, weird-sounding names and expressions they use! (They even have a useful glossary in the back). The disgusting, corrupt, slimy Harkonnens - don't you just love to hate them! When former-aristo-turned-desert-guerilla-fighter Paul Muad'Dib rides in on a sandworm at the end to fight the evil Baron and his vicious, cruel nephew, of course you're cheering for him. Who the hell wouldn't be?
So that was the Dune we know and love, but the man who rewrote it now would get a rather different reception. Oh my God! These Fremen, who obviously speak Arabic, live on a desert planet which supplies the Universe with melange, a commodity essential to the Galactic economy, and in particular to transport. Not a very subtle way to say "oil"! They are tough, uncompromising fighters, who are quite happy to use suicide bombing as a tactic. They're led by a charismatic former rich kid (OK, we get who you mean), who inspires them to rise up against the corrupt, degenerate... um, does he mean Westerners? Or only the US? And who is Baron Harkonnen intended to be? I'm racking my brains... Dubya doesn't quite seem to fit, but surely he means someone? Unless, of course, he's just a generic stereotype who stands for the immoral, sexually obsessed West. This is frightening. What did we do to make Frank al-Herbert hate us so much? You'd have people, not even necessarily right-wingers, appearing on TV to say that the book was dangerous, and should be banned: at the very least, it incites racial hatred, and openly encourages terrorism. But translations would sell brilliantly in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and a bad movie version would soon be made in Turkey.
I honestly don't think Herbert meant any of that; but today, it's almost impossible not to wonder. If anyone reading this review is planning to rewrite The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, you'd better make sure you get your timing right. Who knows how it will be interpreted five years from now?
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
Finished Reading
Finished Reading
Finished Reading
Started Reading
January 1, 1970
–
Finished Reading
November 20, 2008
– Shelved
December 5, 2008
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
June 5, 2013
– Shelved as:
if-research-were-romance
January 15, 2015
– Shelved as:
islam-and-arabic
Comments Showing 1-50 of 234 (234 new)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![Terence](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1555890512p1/1019174.jpg)
And by the way, perhaps Vladimir Harkonnen = Rush Limbaugh? (Which would leave Bush as Shaddam and Cheney could be the Reverend Mother.)
![Lori](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1357149372p1/744602.jpg)
Ooooh, just saw Terence said the same thing!
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![David Katzman](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1399048696p1/1444651.jpg)
I don't think he was so much prescient as paying attention.
![Tatiana](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1184048097p1/180908.jpg)
![MattA](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1206143806p1/1011143.jpg)
I'm re-reading "Dune" now for the first time in over 20 years, and I can't help wondering how much Herbert was inspired by "Lawrence of Arabia" which was released in 1962. I know that "Dune" and "Lawrence" don't really parallel each other that much, but I can imagine Herbert sitting back and thinking, just as a starting point, "What if 'Lawrence of Arabia' was set on a different planet?"
![Fiver](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1298620798p1/2770395.jpg)
Having said that, I think it's also important to note that not all stories have that inherent depth. Sometimes I here people shelve Dune off as the product of mid-century sensationalism ("Get it... they're fighting... in the desert... with worms!"), but I think the book seeps with so much cultural and ecological commentary that it can't help but have meaning.
![Pareyeah Myxios](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
Also very interesting to see you linking him with Lawrence Durrell. I have read The Alexandria Quartet twice, and it never for a second occurred to me to compare with Herbert...
![C.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1245484320p1/1425694.jpg)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
Are you learning Arabic then? I'm embarrassed to say I can't read the script... we have been using it a little at work, but I have been a bit lazy and left all that to our Arabic specialist.
![C.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1245484320p1/1425694.jpg)
I've actually formed quite a different opinion on the reasons why he uses it, but I think I'll wait until the end of the book to see if my suspicions are confirmed or not.
![Catherine Jamieson](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1303742085p1/5235799.jpg)
Either way, your thesis is excellent. And I agree. Context - the context the *reader* supplies vis a vis his experiences and social conditioning - is a really important part of a story's meaning. It's the implied/inferred argument. A writer may suggest but ultimately it is the reader who settles the matter of meaning.
Bravo, anyway - enjoyed the post.
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
I just looked around, and discovered that Brian Herbert has written a massive biography of his father. Almost tempted to buy it. The stuff about using a lie detector on his children sounds seriously creepy.
![Asif](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1369595464p1/4671840.jpg)
Other people have read the whole Dune Saga (I never got past half-way through Book 4) as a cautionary tale against destroying the environment...
It is, however you understand it, a great sci-fi novel.
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
I wonder if Herbert said anything about what, if anything, he intended? Though authors are often unreliable on this score.
![Alexei](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
![Asif](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1369595464p1/4671840.jpg)
1. i'd have to find it first.
2. it was written by hand on paper and so i'd need to type it all and i remember it being quite lengthy...
perhaps. :)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![T-dub](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1302325832p1/5243350.jpg)
![Ted](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1553101210p1/7213075.jpg)
Never having seen that article before, and not having read the book in a few decades, most of it is pretty new (and interesting) to me. Thanks everyone.
![Wrey Fuentes](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1332698952p1/8199655.jpg)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![Wrey Fuentes](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1332698952p1/8199655.jpg)
But I think it bears remembering that our meddling in the Middle East predates by some decades the era we think of as having started with Desert Storm.
Manny wrote: "Well, I think Herbert could have meant some of it - First World callously exploiting Third, in particular. But if he predicted Osama bin Laden, then I must say I'm seriously impressed. Though maybe..."
![Eve Davids](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442943968p1/3437007.jpg)
![Thom Dunn](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_25x33-8a3530ed95c3dbef8bf215b080559b09.png)
Well, David Lynch's film is magnificent even if, at first viewing, his depiction of evil is so visceral as to be off-putting. Have viewed it many times and, like any great work of art, it just keeps getting better.
![Ol](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Fayley](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1331826428p1/5966819.jpg)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![Fayley](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1331826428p1/5966819.jpg)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
![Robert Williams](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1342734615p1/11106187.jpg)
![John Paz](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1298564934p1/3516006.jpg)
My friend, you miss the blatant reference to the all-important trigger word in a dialog with our hero: "jihad." And it was about the time when the first of the Fremen sacrifice himself against a shield-less battleship, "one for three hundred. Seems like a good exchange..."
I'm paraphrasing terribly, but you get my point. I've been thinking this since they began describing the Fremens. I've been pronouncing it like it rhymed with the country Yemen... even more symbolism!
![Colleen Stone](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1399247133p1/10805431.jpg)
![Damian Dubois](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1612918420p1/3481936.jpg)
![Manny](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p1/1713956.jpg)
An outstanding commentary, Manny.