Science Fiction Author Frank Herbert and his Great Work: Dune

Dune is the mystical science fiction story from the pen of Frank Herbert, where the Atreides & Harkonnen families battle for world supremacy, all the while unknowingly guided by Bene Gesserit witches while Fremen fight for their freedom.

This post was inspired by seeing the first Villeneuve movie. After that, I read the prequels by Herbert fils and Anderson since there was so much in the movie that left me puzzled. Dune is quite a complex story, but after seeing it again, not counting the David Lynch- Kyle MacLachlan version-I agree with the WSJ reviewer¹ its best rendition is George Lucas’s Star Wars. It becomes even more obvious in Lucas’s re-edited “New Hope” version.

And something about the author

Franklin Patrick Herbert, jr was born on October 8th, 1920 in Tacoma. He grew up during the Great Depression and, because his parents could not afford to feed him sent him to live with his parents’ grandparents. They are a double – edged sword in the chart. While both are pragmatic and wealthy Virgos, they are not in aspect to create the Line of Motivation. Instead, they fall just short, showing how sustenance given with a stern hand leads to rebellion.

Frank begrudgingly admits he owed them something, but he never does quality exactly what. His Virgo moon resented restriction too much. Jupiter could not sow its wild oats in Virgo, and Saturn was always an overbearing force. Strict Irish Catholics, his grandparents felt they had been too lax with their own son, wanted to make amends the grandson, but their traditional values complete with the Roman Catholic curricula and stern Irish nuns (the Bene Geserit tie-in here is hard to miss), pushed Frank further away and encouraged his rebelliousness.

Arrakis, Neptune and Freedom

While Arrakis is all desert, Neptune is at the top of the chart in the tenth house, albeit in fiery Leo. The king of the sea has a few aspects. Mars is the most supportive character, a trine away, and is an ally. In Sagittarius, it urges a complete divorce. World War II was a getaway, and with its advent, Frank left his grandparents for good, and went fittingly, to sea.

Finding his Muse

Herbert followed hunches about his muse once again; it was Mars that led the way. In the third house of unpublished works, short stories and letters, Herbert squirreled away at his magnum opus while suffering through a few divorces as he tried to convince his wives of his vision (Mars sextile Sun inconjunct the South Node in the seventh house). But even there it was a slow grind; his Line of Efficiency (Mars to Venus) has no aspect and it does not seem he was in a rush to get the Great Work out.

He plied through many trades: naval photography (Neptune in Leo) seemed an obvious choice, but the pull was weak and once the War was over demand fell. With Venus in its rulership at his ascendant, Frank was encouraged to take the long view, and so through progressions, the Galactic Center moved closer to his Mars, and the magic finally happened. In 1963, a short story in Analog, the science fiction mag, the Great Work saw the light of day. Yes, it was just a glimpse of what Herbert was really thinking, but it was valued, and he got letters from other sci-fi writers encouraging him to follow this dream.

Of course, after waiting so long for his main chance, Frank did. Dune arrived in 1966 and was heralded with Nebulas and Hugos; sales were slow. The second book, Dune Messiah, was a great yawn. He was encouraged to do better. In 1976, the last volume of the trilogy appeared, Children of Dune, and was heralded with great applause. A year later, in time for summer, the movie Star Wars was released. Science fiction has never been the same.

Herbert died in 1986 from pancreatic cancer surgery. His son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson now continue the saga using Frank’s notebooks.

Footnotes:

1. Alas that is lost behind a paywall coupled with the lack of search facilities on the WSJ site. ↩︎