Dune, 50 years on

Re:Dune, 50 years on by snowwrestler on Saturday July 04, 2015 @12:30PM (#9830638)

The sequels don't undermine the original story, they expand on it.

A lot of people think Dune is a straightforward hero story, with Paul Atreides the "good" hero, but actually (edit: I should say, according to Herbert and taking into account the later novels) it is the story of the terrible damage a "hero" can cause to a culture and society.

"No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero." - Frank Herbert

This is similar to Cryptonomicom, which people think is the story of Avi and Randy's success, but is really the story of their misguided quest which is doomed to fail.

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Re:Dune, 50 years on by JoshTriplett on Saturday July 04, 2015 @03:33PM (#9831331)

What an author intends and what readers take from it are two different things. Definitely an interesting quote, though; I like that.

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Re:Dune, 50 years on by spdionis on Saturday July 04, 2015 @07:23PM (#9831915)

Agreed. My interpretation is that Paul actually failed completely as a hero.

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Re:Dune, 50 years on by Swannie on Sunday July 05, 2015 @09:31PM (#9836098)

I read the books 15 years ago (IIRC, the first 4 or 5), and need to revisit.

But my enduring memory was of a flawed young man becoming overly enamoured with his new messianic role, and making some choices that were questionable.

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Re:Dune, 50 years on by spdionis on Monday July 06, 2015 @03:04AM (#9837292)

It's not really like that. In the end the choices he made supposedly happened because he saw the future that this was the best way for humanity to survive.

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