Show Me The World, Don't Tell Me About It.

The internet has been buzzing this year over all the new editions and artwork for Dune’s 50^th anniversary. I’ve been enjoying seeing the fresh take on classic scenes from the first book in Frank Herbert’s Dune saga. I’ve also been enjoying seeing which of my friends are getting excited over it. The book doesn’t share the same kind of mainstream popularity as, let’s say, 1984 does and so it’s nice to see what cross section of my friends have read the book. I’m not the biggest Dune fan. I’ve only read 6 out of the 20 novels. It isn’t out of a lack of interest in the text (though admittedly Dune is not a light read) but rather out of concern for the text. Frank Herbert died before completing the saga and his son picked up his notes and continued. Only two of the additional fourteen novels that Brian Herbert wrote are based on those notes. Although I’m desperate to know what happens (Chapterhouse: Dune ends on a cliffhanger!) I’m worried that I won’t enjoy Brian Herbert’s style of writing. The only person I know who has read the Brian Herbert books said he wasn’t a fan so I’m left to be torn between my desire to see these books through to the end and the concern that I just won’t like Dune anymore if I read them.

A lot of this trepidation comes from the fact that Frank Herbert’s Dune series is not simple. There are layers upon layers of politics, science, social systems, religion all combined in a setting that spans an empire of alien planets. When I first read it a couple of years ago it reminded me a lot of Asimov’s Foundation series. There’s a lot going on in the world-building of both novels that you need to get a handle on if the rest of its going to make sense.  In Foundation it’s all about psychohistory and the Galactic Empire and mutants. In Dune it’s religion and the Padishah Empire and the ecology of strange planets. I think the hardest parts about these books and other more political leaning epic science fiction is learning and remembering the names. Especially because good world-building hinges on the idea of “show don’t tell”. The reader needs to pick up clues and piece together the lore of these civilizations rather than have it all explained in a single info-dump.

Herbert does that perfectly in Dune. Sure, it feels a little like jumping in with both feet at first. Who’re the Bene Gesserit? What’s the Butlerian Jihad? Uh, Kwisatz Haderach? But so long as you push through and ignore the knee jerk reaction to put the book down and just walk away while you’re still sane everything begins to make sense. And that’s the joy of reading something that takes place in strange world. It’s the slow build. The reward for staying involved. The fact that you as the reader are along for the same ride as the characters. There’s nothing that I hate more when reading a book or watching a movie than feeling pandered to by the creator. I can connect dots on my own and I appreciate when an author expects that of the audience. Even though the beginning of Dune might be confusing I’d rather be confused for a few pages than read a sentence like “This is Paul Atriedes. He doesn’t know it yet but he’s the result of centuries of selective breeding and will eventually become a messiah figure.” Boring!

Not that I’m judging people who do like to read books that are up front with all the information. I understand that reading is a pastime and people look to it for leisure. Not everyone gets pleasure out of obsessively analyzing texts for hints and clues to things the author hasn’t outright said. Underlining text is for school not for beside the pool! We’re all different and that’s great.

Maybe one day I’ll bite the bullet and read the Brian Herbert books. I know at the very least I should read Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune so that I can put to rest all these loose threads. In the meantime there’s still plenty for me to mull over in the six books I have read. So if you need me I’ll be contemplating the efficacy of heroes and how worship can corrupt even the most good intentioned.