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> While the story remains unfailingly interesting, Blanch’s detours into the habits of the Russian aristocracy and European power politics, and the memorable pe
by hirundo 7y ago
> While the story remains unfailingly interesting, Blanch’s detours into the habits of the Russian aristocracy and European power politics, and the memorable personalities that populate the period occasionally detract from the book’s narrative momentum.
For me a part of the brilliance of Dune is that Herbert does not commit this sin. He maintains the momentum with only few and relevant digressions. I read the book again after three decades and was amazed that the depth I remembered came from a sparseness of words. I had spun off mere suggestions in the text into baroque textures in my head.
It reminds me of the cartoons of James Thurber, who could evoke more with the curve of a line than most artists can with any number.
I think this is part of what makes Dune so hard to adapt to film. There is less elaborate description to go by compared to Herbert's more verbose colleagues from Victor Hugo to George R.R. Martin. The imagination of each reader has more room to diverge.
- arethuza 7y agoSometimes digressions can be fun though - Neal Stephenson's works or the footnotes of Infinite Jest.
- optimalsolver 7y agoPeter F Hamilton, in "Pandora's Star", introduces his enemy alien race all in one go, from the beginnings of their civilization to meeting humans. It is AWESOME. By the time you get back to the humans you might have to make an effort to recall why you care about them.
- elhudy 7y ago>Sometimes digressions can be fun though - Neal Stephenson's works or the footnotes of Infinite Jest. Shudders Not for everyone.
- kingbirdy 7y agoThe Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud is still probably my favorite example of footnotes done right. Without spoiling anything, one of the POV characters is an ancient djinni, who makes liberal use of footnotes for a good blend of comedy and exposition.
- girvo 7y agoI remember a few of those footnotes taking up half the page! Brilliant books, I loved them as a teen.
- roywiggins 7y agoJonathan Strange and Mr Norrell edges it to take first prize imho, but it's a close one.
- simonh 7y agoIt would help if they at least stayed consistent with the few words we get. Fine, elaborate from there as much as you like. Go wild, but at least respect the starting point. So I don't really care what the Aba Robes the Bene Gesserit wear look like, as long as they are kind of recognisable as an Abaya, or based on it, or at least derived from it. Not the trussed up, constraining taffeta monstrosities David Lynch had them squeezed into. They were about as far from the word 'robe' as you can possibly get and still be clothing. I did like the look of Blade Runner 2049 though, so I have hope for the upcoming movie.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoOne of the more entertaining things about Dune is that it's been relatively bad at attracting fanfic and cosplay. It's so ambiguous, rich, and open to interpretation that it's a daunting universe to visit as a casual tourist - and it's so stark and amoral that it's hard to feel comfortably at home in it, even if you're a fan. Which is why it's such a challenge for directors. The visuals are critical, but it would take an uncanny imagination to make them work as metaphors as well as images. IMO Lynch was a bit too literally imperial and historic. The movie feels more pedestrian and earth-bound than the books do, with some of the grandeur squeezed out by obvious signifiers and references. The Jodorowsky version would probably have been amazing. I'm looking forward to the Villeneuve version, but I think Jodorowsky's Dune would have been a real game changer for SF movies - and all the characters would have been strikingly but plausibly weird, the BG included.
- jerrysievert 7y ago> One of the more entertaining things about Dune is that it's been relatively bad at attracting fanfic and cosplay. well, unless you consider the "prequels" and two subsequent novels as "fanfic", which I do, and am apparently not alone since they seem to want to change canon so much. > I think Jodorowsky's Dune would have been a real game changer for SF movies even as far as he got was an amazing game changer for SF movies. the teams he put together, his story boards, and almost every aspect of what he created went on to define the sci-fi genre at the time. it's no coincidence that so many of those involved in Star Wars had been involved in Jodorowski's Dune adaptation.
- sudosteph 7y agoNot only does it lend itself well to the imagination, it provides protection against the immersion-breaking reaction that overly-descriptive future predictions create when they're inevitably wrong. It was really brilliant of him to have the Butlerian Jihad as context for an in-world technology limitations - while also simultaneously showing off a highly-developed and syncretic social structures, especially with the use of religion, to still give it a believable and excitable feel of the future. It gives the book a universe feel that is very hard to re-capture when reading other books by some other sci-fi masters of their era.
- stjohnswarts 7y agoA lot of sci fi seems to have used this to explain why AI didn't take over and weirder technologies evolved. Pretty neat actually.