Some might question my claim to geekhood on the grounds that I have never read Tolkein or Herbert. Frank Herbert’s Dune is frequently described as the best science fiction novel ever. Over the past few weeks I have been reading a little bit more of it every evening before going to sleep. Whatever else it is, Dune is an extraordinary feat of the imagination. Anyone, like me, coming to the book fresh, but familiar with last century’s speculative fiction, will be struck immediately by how influential it was. Half the genre creations produced in the forty years since it was written seem to have stolen ideas from it.
I’m not giving anything away by saying that a population of sand dwellers called the “Fremen” plays a significant part in the plot. I am about half way through and, so far, Herbert has introduced us individually to several proud, hardy warriors who say things like “They have my countenance!”, use insults like “spawn of a lizard!”, and wield both knives fashioned from the teeth of giant sand worms and exotic, mighty names like “Stilgar”, “Jamis”, “Farok”, and “Liet”. Yesterday evening, I was reduced to giggles by the revelation that one of the female Fremen, “Harah”, was previously married to another proud, hardy Fremen warrior who, until he was slain in a duel, went by the name of “Geoff”. I am waiting to find out if his full title was “Geoff, Controller of Credit for the Empire of Toys’R’Us”.
Dune is one of the few books I have bought that I never got round to reading. It has always been a bit daunting. Maybe I will dare to open it one day, but for now I am more of a James Herbert reader than a Frank Herbert reader.
Geoff sounds good though. I fully expect the Bradford & Bingley Building Society to rename themselves ‘Geoff’ soon, just after the Central Office of Information rebrands itself as ‘Nigel’. I came to this conclusion after hearing that there is a directory enquiries service called ‘Maureen’ – and of course there is a TV channel called ‘Dave’.
I am sure the process of giving companies homely names is going to accelerate and by 2012 the official sponsors of the Olympic Games will be Tom, Dick and Harry.
I never finished Dune either. I got halfway through when I was 15, then presumably was distracted by Asimov / a girl / something shiny. Totally intrigued by warrior Geoff, though – I’ll have to give it another try.
I loved Dune (although some of the followups bored me to tears and I’m convinced that Herbert made up “The Heretics” as he went on) but
SPOILER FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES
SPOILER FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES
I disagree with one fundamental premise – that people living in extreme conditions such as those of Dune make super-soldiers. They can be very good in their environment, but take them somewhere else and they’re much more in trouble than, say, a European who’s been exposed to wildly varying climates. A Touareg can be an excellent soldier in the Sahara, but he’s in serious trouble even in the absence of enemies when you relocate him to Greenlad or the rainforest. In reality, the Fremen would have been wiped out as soon as they left Dune.
The Fremen had an all-seeing prophet on their side and a large weapons cache. They also had experience of running down lots and lots of tunnels, which means they’d be fine anywhere Doctor Who has visited.
But Dune was obvioulsy meant to be stand-alone. The sequels were awful (apart possibly from “Children…”) and eventually succumbed to Heinlen’s syndrome.
I have to agree. Damian, if you don’t enjoy Dune you won’t be tempted to read sequels. If you do enjoy it – do yourself a favour, savour the feeling and don’t spoil it by reading the dire sequels.
As for the Fremen being wiped out when they left Dune – you could make the same assumption about the Muslim warriors of Arabia in the 7th century on which they are modelled. Of course there were more factors than simply being born in a tough environment – the religious (best not say crusading in this case) impulse and the sense of invulnerability bestowed by having a prophet on your side were also helpful…
Dirigible and Kibi are right. I read all the sequels – that’s a month I won’t get back.