[The Typing Baker] Meeting the Beginning of the World Called 'Dune'

Frank Herbert, Author of the Movie Dune, Short Story Masterpieces
'The Old Wandering House' 'Seed of Life'

Still cut from director Denis Villeneuve's film 'Dune: Part 2'

‘Dune: Part 2,’ directed by Denis Villeneuve and based on the original work by Frank Herbert, has been released. Despite being a major production, its box office performance seems underwhelming. Although South Korea is not a country where science fiction is unpopular, space operas tend to be particularly less favored. This was the case with the American myth ‘Star Wars’ and the similarly prestigious ‘Star Trek.’ Still, since the original work is famous and many have experienced the story through the game created by Westwood, the grassroots sentiment is relatively positive. IMAX viewers have also given favorable reviews.

Articles comparing ‘Dune’ to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ are often seen. Despite being old works, both continue to be loved due to their vast world-building. Among fantasy works after ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ there are hardly any that are free from its influence. It is no exaggeration to say that the fantasy world was established through ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ The same goes for ‘Dune.’ Among works after ‘Dune,’ there are few that have not benefited from its science fiction settings. It exists not only as an outstanding work but also as the root of its genre, and its author is the creator himself.

Before going to see ‘Dune: Part 2,’ I decided to visit the world he created. Of course, I plan to watch the original ‘Dune’ as well, but before that, I picked up a book. It is a collection of Frank Herbert’s short story masterpieces. The two-volume collection includes 32 short stories published over about 30 years, from ‘Looking for Something?’ first published in 1952 to ‘The Road to Dune’ published in 1985. Among these, the only work that directly mentions ‘Dune’ is ‘The Road to Dune,’ which truly serves as a travel guide to ‘Dune.’ It seems he wrote it to proudly showcase his achievement, ‘Dune.’

The works centered on the basic settings of ‘Dune’ include ‘Operation Haystack’ and ‘Priestess of the Between.’ In ‘Operation Haystack,’ women of the Neyshia, the prototype of the Bene Gesserit to which Paul’s mother belongs in the movie ‘Dune: Part 1,’ appear. They become the wives of those in power and try to reshape the future, matching the appearance and settings in ‘Dune.’ Unlike J.R.R. Tolkien, who develops all his works within a single world and gives the feeling of “this is the history of The Lord of the Rings,” Frank Herbert’s world feels like walking through a different world and picking up pieces of ‘Dune.’

Ultimately, this short story collection seems to be a process of meeting the man Frank Herbert within the world he created. Except for ‘The Road to Dune,’ almost none of the other works have a smooth ending. They often end with dystopian themes on a large scale or sarcastic jokes on a smaller scale. In ‘The Lost Dogs,’ the dogs ultimately become extinct, and the newly born genetically preserved creatures are confirmed to have six legs. ‘The Operation Syndrome’ mocks human irrationality as a joke through the network. Perhaps these critical and cold perspectives were the driving force behind meticulously building such a vast world.