I first read this book in high school (approximately 1985). It was not my first attempt at reading it, but the first two times I tried I couldn’t get past the torpid first 100 pages with all the language, history, customs, new words, great houses… I just didn’t understand it. The third time I tried, I forced myself through it, and then at about page 100-150, I just couldn’t put it down and read it as soon as I could. I have read it at least 4 or 5 more times since then, and over the last 2 weeks I decided to read it again. I was inspired by a podcast I heard called something like “Jesse gets his girlfriend to read Dune, grudgingly,” in which they read it, discuss it, and talk about it. This time, I was able to read it with a writer’s eye, and I learned a lot. Mild spoilers be ahead, but if you don’t know about Dune, then you should read it first and then come back here.
Let me start by acknowledging that I recognize this book has a lot of problems for the modern reader; problems that were lost on me even the last time I read it say 5 or 8 years ago. The treatment/portrayal of women as essentially subservient (even the Bene Geseret are hidden forces at work), the portrayal of evil as either homosexual or obese (well, both), the white savior complex, and I’m sure many other things. With my more modern and experienced eye, I can see those things now, that I could not before. As a white male, these portrayals did not bother me, but I have grown and changed a lot in the last few years and I can acknowledge these problems in story.
One thing I noticed on this read with my new “writer’s eye” was the POV. I had no memory of the book being written in third person omniscient and it was jarring in the first few pages to bounce from one head to another. That certainly dates the book as well. In my own novel writing, I am keeping close third though I have to admit, there have been times when omniscient third would be helpful, but I can think of no recent comps that I can point to that use this POV. For me, I need to keep it close to what the modern market supports, I would think. Herbert did a good job; I never felt lost in whose head I was in, but it was not expected, and I was wholly surprised. I have never paid much attention to POV before the last 3 years when I really started writing again, and it definitely jumped out at me.
Let’s now go back to the first 100 pages. The first few chapters actually outline the entire book (the entire series, actually). It is hidden, it is hinted at, but /it is there/. I found that amazing. The fact that Maud’Dib will become a prophet/future seer/prescient being, its all there. The ancient mythology (if you know it) is there to be used as foreshadowing. The great houses pitted against each other by the emperor trying to maintain power and control. When I read it this week I was amazed at how much was just there on the page, not hidden at all.
Why do I love this book? By many measures, I probably shouldn’t. I am a spaceships and aliens kind of reader: space opera and hard SF. Dune has spaceships but we never see them. Dune has alien-like creatures but they are modified humans (the guild navigators, the Bene Deseret, the mentats, and only hinted at are the Ixian ghoulas which come later in the series). The setting is harsh and reasonably “hard SF,” in that I can imagine all the technology growing out of science (except maybe the shields). And the shields and the las guns and their Holzman fields (suspensors… it is the magic tech) provide such a rich tapestry for combat that would be lost if you could just shoot ’em up like in Star Wars, the Western. So, the setting is reasonably hard, but the main subject of the book is politics and intrigue, not something I normally read for.
So what is it? I knew before I started reading, but this reread confirmed it. Between any two lines of text on any page of the book, you feel like if you just pried them apart a little bit, you would find /depth/ and /history/ and WORLD BUILDING. That is it right there. The depth of the world behind the page. It is mentioned from time to time, but mostly it is just hints and whispers. The OC bible, the Butlerian Jihad, the guild navigators, the feudal history up to the present, Corrin, Salusa Secondus, the old duke… they are all mentioned and the depth is /there/. That is how I have approached my world building in my novel. I fully expect very little of the 50,000 words I have written in backstory to ever appear on any page, but I hope that I can hint at the several thousand year history in my world. I want someone to be able to imagine for themselves the arc of human (and alien) history even if it is barely hinted at on the page.
Much like the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the fanatical need of Star Wars creators (and fans, don’t get me wrong) to have every possible character have a deeply connected backstory (ice cream maker guy from cloud city…), the prequel books by Brian Herbert and Paul Anderson were deeply disappointing to me. I have read all but one or two of the I believe 13 books they have coauthored. In some sense, the mystery of the past gave it more meaning. More depth. Going and reading about the Butlerian Jihad made it worse for me. Even if that was how Frank Herbert had imagined it, I felt that the writing was at best surface level–never coming close to the depth on the page that is there in Dune. I also felt like the authors made the books longer than necessary to make them into convenient trilogies (I have noticed the prequel books for Ender’s Game series to have the same lightness and overextension… the Earth Unaware trilogy I felt could have been a single book). It was entertaining, but I have read Dune 5 or 6 times, the first 2 sequels probably 3 or 4 times, the complete original 6 books at least twice, and the prequels once and I no longer own them. Actually, I no longer own Dune either. I gave my first copy away to a friend years ago, and gave my replacement copy to my son 4 or 5 years ago. I will keep buying it because that book above any other has shaped the way I feel about fiction.
A friend of mine suggested I read (re-read) the Martian to help me with some aspects of my novel. I have it on my iPad right now, but behind me as I type this is the rest of my collection starting with Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. And I know that the mysterious “7th” book was written by Anderson and Herbert (as a two book series) and I have never read that. I may find myself speed reading the rest of the series. I can think of worse ways to spend my time…