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DUNE BOOK CLUB :: Week 03!

Well hello there! I'm pretty bleary here in the early morning, but I'll try to sound smart for all of you. Please keep your various sniggers and eye-rolls to yourselves, thank you very much. The section of the book we read this week is one of my favorites, and to me the place where it starts to really get interesting, really move into the mix of story, legend-building, and science/philosophy that sets the book apart. I'm going to talk about three things that stick out to me, and then I'd prefer to hear more from YOU guys this week--there's plenty to talk about. ONE: in this section of the book we're introduced for the first time to the Fremen as such (excepting the Shadout Mapes from earlier), both in the person of Stilgar and somewhat less so in Dr. Kynes, although it is with Kynes that we are first introduced to the stillsuit. dune_03_pope-p_stilgar

above, by Paul Pope

I point this out less for plot purposes--listen, this book is lousy with Fremen past this point--and moreso for the metaphoric importance of the stillsuit. To me, the stillsuit itself is an enormously significant symbol in the book; not only is it the sort of de facto "uniform" of the Fremen, but it is a visual vector of much of the philosophy of the book. Consider that the stillsuit is basically a machine designed to a) minimize the body's loss of water in the desert, and b) convert the body's waste into potable water. More than anything else, the stillsuit underlines the precariousness of life in the deep desert, and ties the characters in the story to the "Law of the Minimum," which Jessica and Kynes discuss at the dinner party. To paraphrase: growth in a system is limited by that necessity available in the least supply. The stillsuit exists only to preserve water, and each time it appears in the book, we are dealing with a deep part of the Fremen culture, a bridge between their nomadism/tribalism and real science, and the ecological overtones of the book. Without beating us over the head with it on every page--"Jeez guys I am so darned thirsty in this hot desert water sure is scarce!"--Herbert creates a shorthand description of privation in the word "stillsuit." TWO: Dr. Kynes is one of my favorite characters in the book, complex enough to have multiple overlapping motives ("Liet serves two masters"), noble enough for us to identify with him, and Fremen enough to be capable of quick and cold violence. He also is a great middle ground between the politics of one part of the story and the ecology of the rest. That's all, I like this guy, just wanted to say. dune_03_dahm-e_stilgar

above, by Evan Dahm

THREE: The dinner party. I love this chapter, there's SO MUCH interesting stuff in it. You may not have found it as fascinating as I do, and I'll admit that usually a long chapter that's basically a bunch of people talking at dinner would be super boring. But Herbert does an interesting thing here that he uses to great effect later: if you notice, all the dialogue is essentially miniature combat between characters. No one knows what anyone is thinking, and all are constantly striving to read subtext and context, parrying and riposting. Even Jessica and the Duke are trying to figure each other out. There's all this tension, even though the most violent act in the scene is probably when the Duke pours his water on the floor and freaks everyone out a little. In the remainder of the book, and even more so in the later books in the series, Herbert uses this combative dialogue a lot, A LOT, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. But here, this scene at dinner, we get a lot of exposition, a lot of characterization of these complex people, but in a setting that's tense enough to create real drama. I love it. The other thing I love: The Law of the Minimum. I think about it all the time. I only have one question for you guys, although I'd love to hear your own. Here it is: is water or spice the most valuable commodity on Dune? And whichever, how does that commodity's insertion into the Law of the Minimum aphorism affect the systems on Dune, both political, tribal, financial, ecological, etc.? Okay guys it's about to get exciting: for next week, read to the end of Part One, the chapter that ends, "And he felt the tears coursing down his cheeks." Oh man, so good.