[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 89 KB, 1062x751, dune_sietch_by_lsgg-d3hyovy.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6387660 No.6387660 [Reply] [Original]

tl;dr version: Is Dune still relevant/do people give a shit about it? Why or why not?

I would think it's a fairly well-known book, and yet I ever only hear people mention it in passing. Or every once in a while I'll see the Litany Of Fear come up somewhere. I'm not saying it's the best book of all time or anything, but shit man rarely do I hear more then "Oh yeah, that was really good" or "I really liked that book", surely it deserves more credit than that? Maybe I keep talking to the wrong people?

So is Dune considered overrated? Did the Movie/Miniseries combo kill it? Did Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson scare everyone off? I'd like to know /lit/'s opinion.

>> No.6387666

It's great for an introduction of how culture and religion can be used to control society and other aspects of life. More teens should read it to get out of their rebellious stage and understand that people do things for reasons.
At the same time it's like reading a really aged and exaggerated introduction to middle eastern traditions.

>> No.6387678

>>6387660
As with many science fiction writers, Herbert's imagination is greater than his writing talent

>> No.6387695

>>6387678
OP here. I mean sure, for the most part I just figure he used a science-fiction narrative as a sort Trojan horse for sharing his ideals and philosophy. Can't blame a dude for wanting to educate and entertain simultaneously, as tricky as that may be.

>> No.6387858
File: 24 KB, 395x296, I see smug within smug.... the young Atreides heir Wojak must feel.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6387858

>>6387660
>I'd like to know /lit/'s opinion.
Dune is fun as hell, and is certainly unique within sci-fi. Like any book, it's not without its flaws.
>Did Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson scare everyone off?
Yes. I read a summary of one of their books because I was curious. Paul runs away to join the circus for fuck's sake, going against everything in his established character.

>>6387678
This. My favorite part about Dune is the worldbuilding. He presents interesting ideas, locations, technology, conflicts, aliens, etc, but his execution is poor. He literally has Baron Harkonnen appear to the reader in one of the first chapters and has him say to us "I'm the bad guy, here's my badguy plan!" instead of letting the reader figure it out. He doesn't trust the reader so he does it for them. He artificially introduces many of his characters by writing a background on them, rather than letting the story explain them with natural progression.

>> No.6387906

>>6387660
Yeah, it's like fight club.

aka reddit-tier

now fuck off

>> No.6388013

>>6387858
Aye. True enough. And in God Emperor he practically stops all narrative progression and uses the protagonist as a means of sharing even more of his ideas (Frank's). Honestly I believe Brian is a better writer than Frank, but only in the sense that he is better at managing a story (ex. A leads to B leads to C) without some of the flaws that Frank had that you also described.

>> No.6388019

>>6387660
>So is Dune considered overrated?
Yes. Herbert accidentally managed to write a book that seems like it's about religion and messianism. Underneath it's really an insipid tale about space empires and terraforming. If Herbert wasn't such a poor writer and stylist and had written the book he set out to write, nobody would care for 'Dune' at all.

>> No.6388103

He was on mushrooms when he wrote Dune.

>> No.6388106

>>6388103
I can believe it. His descriptions of the spice trips fit the descriptions of psychedelics.

>> No.6388107

I really love the way his language sounds aloud
read it when i was 15-16 and fell in love but never went beyond the first
the bad philosophy and religion stuff is cringy though

>> No.6388112

>>6387906
thank you for your contribution to the thread

>>6388107
I read it for the spaceships, made up animals, fish-people, technology, and the worlds.

>> No.6388127

I actually really liked Dune. I mean, in my opinion, it manages to combine quite well many different cool aspects - heroic space opera with unique and exotic yet at the same time sorta grimdark setting, and it's all 'spiced up' (pardon me the pun) with a bit of phillosophy and somewhat thought provoking material regarding religion, society and humanity as a whole.

>> No.6388171

>>6388127
Me too, I even enjoyed the Herbert/Anderson books in middle school. Don't know why people take them so seriously though.