for the record, like almost all big classic sci-fi, these books (dune) are remarkably bigoted and reductive. i still like space stories and political intrigue tho.
alt text: Trade Offer from Sand Worm Leto Atreides. You receive: 4000 years of planet bound subjugation. Spice, eventually. Famine. Sex ninjas from outer space. Golden Path...
I recieve: Like 70 something Duncan Idahos. Gentle Hwi.
Leto II was trying to free humanity from the tyranny of prescience. It took a 4000 year selective breeding program to produce Siona who was invisible to the future. It was the undoing of the Golden Path of Paul Muad'dib.
Yeah, later books seem like Frank Herbert was way too obsessed with sex. The idea of Honored Maitres as using sex to control humans seemed pretty misogynistic, even at the time (yes, eventually there was a guy, too). Still, I think the whole “put humanity in a pressure cooker so they explode outwards when the lid is gone” concept was pretty thought-provoking. Also the Siona project; if prescience is a real thing in that universe, it can be studied and understood, then weaponized. How do you defend against an enemy that knows where and when you’ll be?
I'm reading Chapterhouse right now and my God Frank has some real sexual issues doesn't he? I thought the Idaho gholas in God-Emperor were weird enough.
Still, as a critique on power structures, Dune as a whole is phenomenal
It gets overlooked today, but Barron Harkonnen is a gay stereotype. Overlooked because gay men being hyperviolent is a stereotype that's long died out, but it was a thing.
Dune starts in a weird place and it gets weirder as it goes.
Absolutely but it still kinda fits with the story.
Mankind, all the eggs in one basket.
Some evil is coming… and mankind just tends to want to congregate
So… what they need is a truly horrible despot whose influence and power is so absolute that once they’re free of him they’ll disperse and never look back.
So.. yeah… it makes a kind of odd sense… still bonkers though
Yes, “teach them a lesson they’ll feel in their bones.” Although I thought the focus of being a despot, along with the Scattering, was to teach a humanity a lesson about avoiding the “Pharaonic Disease”; to reject authoritarians.
Interesting, i havent read it yet but i'd read about the plot generally, what people thought about it, and what kind of person the author was. I could definitely see how these would manifest in his writing based on what i've read. Im still gonna read it bc the premise is fascinating but im glad im going into it with a more critical mind. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)