"Unfeign" <chris.mocella@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message news:
> I've recently been spending my fiction-reading time getting through
> the back-catalouge of Herbert's work. As a qualifyer: I feel like the
> Dune series and the the Jesus Incident trilogy (with Destination:Void
> "precursor") are the pinnacle, archetypes of his work.
>
> Frank Herbert had many different major themes throughout Dune and the
> D:V post-trilogy, we discuss them regularly. What I'm seeing is that
> Herbert played these out in different ways in his other books.
> (Warning, I do discuss the plots in very broad terms, but there could
> be Spoilers).
>
> Eyes of Heisenberg: The major theme here is the fallout of *forced*
> peace through the eons, how the populous will fight back against the
> stagnation. This is evidently represented in GEoD and HoD, as well as
> the commentary on the Famine Times/Scattering that happens in-between.
> Leto II does discuss his forced-peace, and how humans will think twice
> about that after his reign. In EoH, it is a genetic forced-peace, in a
> way, that genetics fights back against with the help of a resistance.
> In the end, the tyrranical oligarchy devours itself when they get a
> single taste of violence to mess with their heads.
Yes, this is reminiscent of the concept of the Jihad as a remedy for
genetic
stagnation.
>
> The Santaroga Barrier: Jaspers is another take on Melange, pure and
> simple. Although this book takes place, essentially, in present-day
> (60s/70s, as it were). In this case, Jaspers is a biological, not a
> simple chemical. And while melange actually does expand consciousness
> and expand life, Jaspers is only repeatedly said to do so by the
> populous of Santaroga... but in the end, I get the distinct feeling
> that it is has very much warped and hindered Dasein's grip on
> consciousness. He says, to balance it, as consciousness grows, so must
> the unconsciousness. I'm all but certain he's lost forever in a
> drugged-haze at the end. This is a WHOLE different take on mind-
> expanding geriatrics.
Yes, but it's similar to the Dune Chronicles concept of Racial
Consciousness. If I recall correctly, Jaspers creates a type of group
consciousness.
<snip>
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