NP: Dune again, white dudes-- and others. Not Others.

[Joseph Tracy]

Great article. Saying similar things myself but I was less articulate, less filled out than this.I sense we are in basic agreement that Herbert’s intentions as a writer got subverted by 2 things:1) too much attention to the machiavellian  maneuverings of the Empire,House Atraides  and the godlike messianic powers of Paul A,  with little serious development or nuance or internal divisions in the Fremen culture. and 2) too binary a conflict (messiahs lead to wars- really what about buddhism) with no 3rd option. As I said earlier I think killing the ecologist off was a big mistake as he could have represented a 3rd way. War is never ecologically friendly, and future heavens are piss poor substitutes for milk and honey now.

I do not think the original reception of Dune was as nuanced or provocative as Herbert intended. I think a lot of the novel’s popularity revolved around fantasies of revenge against imperial violence toward justice and the earth, and the idea that psychedelics might be a liberating force that would free individuals and society to a higher destiny. 
The dark side of messianic powers was not what I remember people talking about, and in fact this was a heyday of Jesus People and other cults. 

There is an appeal of being at the center of a great mystery hinging on your personal destiny that is seductive to the ego and dangerous , just as there is an appeal to disappearing safely into the peace of enlightened non-attachment that can be more like asleep than awake. Is there at least a 3rd way?
   

> On Oct 27, 2021, at 9:28 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> https://slate.com/culture/2021/10/dune-2021-movie-vs-book-white-savior-islam.html
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>