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Frank Herbert – Dune Universe and other texts

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1. Schemata

William Touponce writes very aptly about one of the central conceptual core aspects of the texts of Frank Herbert's Dune Universe:

»Thus it was no accident that his [scil. Frank Herbert’s] masterwork, the six volumes of the Dune series, is one great orchestrated conversation. Critics who complain about the increasing number, length, and enigmatic quality of conversations in the series are really exposing their own desires for a closed universe, for absolutes that Herbert was unwilling to provide. Indeed, he did not see his own work in Dune as a closed ideological system to be contemplated, but rather as something to be acively interpreted, transformed, parodied, exceeded, undermined, and subverted by later volumes in an open-ended dialogue. Closed systems of all kinds were anathema to him.«1

Not only this openness in principle, but also the fundamental complexity with its numerous insinuations and allusions often prevents clarity while reading Herbert’s texts. The following schemes are designed to help readers find their way better between and within the texts. Further diagrams are being planned.

1.1. Fictional and non-fictional non-Dune texts

This document provides a systematic overview of all fictional and non-fiction non-Dune-related texts of Frank Herbert.

pdf | odt | 1.0.1 | 07.07.2023

1.2. Fictional and non-fictional Dune texts

This document provides a narrative-chronological overview of all fictional Dune-related texts of Frank Herbert. Little by little, all non-fictinonal Dune-related texts are to be appended as well.

pdf | odt | 1.0.1 | 07.07.2023

1.3. Abomination

In the Dune texts, the concept of »abomination« seems to be not fully coherently implemented and is not always very easy to understand. Aware of this difficulty, this document aims to bring the various threads together in a coherent overview.

pdf | odg | 1.1.0 | 03.07.2023

1.4. Ecological Cycle(s): Sandworm-Sandtrout, Spice, Water

These schema illustrates the ecological cycle(s) on Arrakis, i.e. the connection between the Sandworm-Sandtrout cycle, water, and the spice melange. Here one can see the systemic, ecological, and holistic correlation in Herbert’s conception most clearly. Thanks to this basic concept Dune was used as an ecological textbook in universities.

pdf | odg | 24.02.2021

1.5. Family Tree of Paul Muad’Dib

This document provides a dramatis personae of the first three Dune volumes (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) in the form of family tree of Paul Muad’Dib.

pdf | odg | 24.02.2021

2. Media

3. Bibliography

  1. Touponce: Frank Herbert (1988), 3. ↩