And those ecological structures and how they affect the narrative history seems to be a theme in the Herbert novels.
That's indeed one of the 5-6 main themes of the novel as defined by Herbert himself. By that he meant the main ideas he had decided to explore. Rather than writing essays, Herbert used fiction. Most of his novels are speculative fiction in the purest sensse.
Some others "themes" I remember:
- How the scarcity of a vital resource tend to make it the pivot of economy and politics and defined the limit of the possible. It was a topic of exploration inspired by the oil crisis which was already predicted at the time.
- A deconstructiom of the myth of the Hero, worshipped by humans since the beginning of times, in myth and religions and history. Herbert believed that Heroes, especially the Superhero kind, were disastrous for humanity. In Dune, he meant to project this idea on a galactic scale and put the survival of all humanity itself into the balance.
- How the cult of the superhero too often lead to theocracy, and how mixing up religion and politics constantly lead to fanatism and disaster. Herbert thought theocracy the worst kind of government.
There were a few more, I'd need to look. IIRC, Herbert spoke of that in the foreword to one of the novels in the French edition (his forewords/afterwords, or those of his French publisher aren't in the American editions).
Of course there's minor themes and ideas by the dozen, as in all of Herbert's books.
Among other things, Dune has also fascinated economists in Europe in the 70s.
I had wondered at some of your earlier comments about the first book. May be due to the different appendices/forewords? And the economic aspect is certainly a key one and the Hero element is one I may want to explore in full more in the God-Emperor of Dune essay.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie
Je suis méchant.
Je suis méchant.
Frank Herbert, Dune Chronicles (series reviews within)
- 16/04/2010 04:11:40 AM
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Re: Frank Herbert, Dune
- 16/04/2010 06:09:49 PM
1136 Views
Re: Frank Herbert, Dune
- 17/04/2010 12:08:06 AM
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Re: Frank Herbert, Dune
- 17/04/2010 02:33:38 PM
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Not all themes are intended by the author. That doesn't mean they aren't there.
- 17/04/2010 06:54:14 PM
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Re: Not all themes are intended by the author. That doesn't mean they aren't there.
- 17/04/2010 10:44:18 PM
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I was using a fairly precise term when I said "ecological"
- 18/04/2010 12:13:14 AM
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Re: I was using a fairly precise term when I said "ecological"
- 18/04/2010 03:34:33 AM
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Please read linked interview...as I call bullshit. Also, why are your walls white?
- 18/04/2010 05:18:07 AM
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Re: Please read linked interview...as I call bullshit. Also, why are your walls white?
- 19/04/2010 06:15:26 PM
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That was most of my issue.
- 21/04/2010 12:12:56 AM
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Just because something plays a dominate role doesn't make it a theme
- 21/04/2010 02:09:42 PM
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Thank you for saying concisely the point I have been trying to make. *NM*
- 21/04/2010 06:34:12 PM
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A theme is merely a dominant strain in a story; there can be more than one theme present
- 21/04/2010 11:21:38 PM
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Re: A theme is merely a dominant strain in a story; there can be more than one theme present
- 22/04/2010 04:58:01 AM
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Re: A theme is merely a dominant strain in a story; there can be more than one theme present
- 22/04/2010 04:08:28 PM
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Texts have different interpretations and Readers emphasize different aspects
- 22/04/2010 09:28:05 PM
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Re: Texts have different interpretations and Readers emphasize different aspects
- 23/04/2010 05:22:22 PM
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Re: Just because something plays a dominate role doesn't make it a theme
- 29/04/2010 11:36:45 PM
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Not really sure how Larry's definition is archaic.
- 19/04/2010 07:52:27 PM
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Re: Not really sure how Larry's definition is archaic.
- 20/04/2010 07:04:40 PM
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Your patronizing manner aside, that's not "archaic" at all.
- 21/04/2010 01:46:50 AM
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Re: Your patronizing manner aside, that's not "archaic" at all.
- 21/04/2010 06:23:24 PM
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People who see this as an ecological book are missing the point of the book
- 16/04/2010 06:28:40 PM
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Books can have more than one theme. Great books almost always do. *NM*
- 16/04/2010 07:15:11 PM
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I agree with that I just never really the ecological theme to Dune
- 16/04/2010 10:12:26 PM
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There are several points to the book/series
- 17/04/2010 12:11:38 AM
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Everyone get something different from a book
- 19/04/2010 07:01:51 PM
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I believe those themes become more pronounced later in the series
- 20/04/2010 10:09:36 PM
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I remember having hated every single character of this book. Some random thoughts
- 17/04/2010 05:08:25 PM
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Well, I enjoyed more of the characters this time around, if that helps
- 18/04/2010 12:14:43 AM
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Re: Frank Herbert, Dune
- 17/04/2010 08:05:16 PM
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I guess we'll have a few disagreements here, Dom
- 17/04/2010 10:22:27 PM
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- 17/04/2010 10:22:27 PM
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Re: I guess we'll have a few disagreements here, Dom
- 18/04/2010 04:38:10 AM
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- 18/04/2010 04:38:10 AM
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Re: I guess we'll have a few disagreements here, Dom
- 19/04/2010 04:04:43 AM
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- 19/04/2010 04:04:43 AM
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Re: I guess we'll have a few disagreements here, Dom
- 22/04/2010 04:31:26 AM
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- 22/04/2010 04:31:26 AM
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I thought all of Dune had begun as a serial in a SF magazine. *NM*
- 22/04/2010 01:58:22 PM
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Dune Messiah (2001 initial read; 2010 re-read)
- 19/04/2010 08:42:18 AM
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Re: Dune Messiah (2001 initial read; 2010 re-read)
- 21/04/2010 03:33:46 PM
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I didn't see that in Alia
- 21/04/2010 11:27:22 PM
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There were a few scenes displaying Alia's abilities/mindset. (spoilers)
- 22/04/2010 03:54:32 PM
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OK, that makes a bit more sense, as I wasn't for sure what you were arguing at first
- 22/04/2010 09:14:46 PM
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One of my favorite series!
- 21/04/2010 03:30:57 PM
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I didn't "miss it" as much as I chose to deemphasize it
- 21/04/2010 11:29:50 PM
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Re: I didn't "miss it" as much as I chose to deemphasize it
- 22/04/2010 04:02:26 PM
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Heretics of Dune (2001 initial read; 2010 re-read)
- 28/04/2010 06:02:54 AM
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Re: Heretics of Dune (2001 initial read; 2010 re-read)
- 29/04/2010 03:26:28 PM
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