Overview
In 1965 Dune received the Science Fiction Writers of America’s Nebula award for best novel, and in 1966 it received the World Science Fiction Convention’s […]
Month: October 2008
Themes and Characters
Herbert maintained that Dune was about the destructive nature of charismatic leaders. In this sense, Paul Atreides is an allegorical figure: a good man whose […]
Literary Qualities
Paul is a charismatic leader who can foresee some of the results of his actions. However, a character’s ability to know the future presents significant […]
Social Sensitivity
Reviewers in the 1960s generally faulted Dune for being naive about both planetary ecology and anthropology. In recent years critics have come to regard Dune […]
Topics for Discussion
1. Paul Atreides’s psychic powers are aided by a drug produced on Dune. Are drugs good or bad in Dune? Given the terrible effects many […]
Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. Study the critics’ objections to the anthropological content of Dune. To what did anthropologists object? Are any of their objections valid? Are there any […]
Related Titles and Adaptations
Herbert traced the fortunes of Arrakis and its theocracy through Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, completing what was originally intended to be a trilogy. […]
About the Author
James Joyce was one of the most celebrated and influential English-language writers of the 20th century, and his later works of fiction, Ulysses (1922) and […]