Dune by Frank Herbert

16Dec. Kindle.

I don't know why I was suddenly struck with a wish to reread this. I haven't read it in years, although I have worn out a couple of copies in the past. And, as with all books truly worth reading, I have spotted things which I never had before.

Herbert, like some others I could name, inserts great chunks of "history and moral philosophy" throughout. One of his devices is quite cute. All the chapter headers (I know there is a word for them, but I can't think of it at the moment.) are quotations from various imaginary works by Princess Irulan. Princess Irulan is the eldest daughter of "Our beloved Padishah Emperor" and appears only in the last few chapters. She is bartered to Paul Atreides as part of the bargain which will leave him on the imperial throne. As Paul's mother, Jessica, and his beloved, Chani, go out to negotiate the deal, Jessica tells Chani that she has heard that Irulan has literary pretensions and that hopefully she will find them sufficient to satisfy her for the rest of her life.

This book was such a success that Herbert followed it up with a long line of sequels. There was a Hollywood movie and a couple of rather elegant miniseries. I have never cared for any of them but this book - I read the first couple of sequels, then quit and never read those again. The Hollywood movie was, to borrow a word from the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, an abomination. I never could bring myself to watch either of the miniseries, although I have heard that they were better.

Perhaps part of the problem was that my friends and coworkers spent considerable time "casting" a film of Dune and other favorites of ours. Our rules would have been problematical for Hollywood producers. We could cast anyone regardless of time or proximity. For example, I always wanted to cast a young Diana Rigg as Jessica. Granted, Jessica had a fifteen-year-old son at the beginning of the story - and her hair was the wrong color, but that's manageable. I suppose that with the kind of stunts they are doing now - they could probably have done it.