Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert's _Dune_ series is considered one of the most popular and significant contributions to science fiction writing in many decades. After winning the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards in 1966 for _Dune_, Herbert went on to write five successive volumes to form a series: _Dune Messiah_, _Children of Dune_, _God Emperor of Dune_, _Heretics of Dune_, and _Chapterhouse: Dune_. The fictional world that Herbert created was at once complex, compelling, and instructive, and the series attracted readers of all ages. Herbert's phenomenal achievements surpassed even that success - he published a total of thirty books in his literary career, twenty-three of which were science fiction novels. Some fans of his speculate that his books spawned the ecological movement in the late sixties and early seventies. Despite the popularity of the Herbert books with general readers and in science fiction courses, the impact of his achievements has been, until now, inadequately assessed. William F. Touponce's authoritative and definitive treatments draws on archival materials, including taped interviews in which Herbert talks extensively about his childhood, recordings of conversations with Herbert about his work, and reproductions of the earliest versions of certain passages that demonstrate the development of the _Dune_ cycle. With comments from Willis E. McNelly, editor and compiler of _The Dune Encyclopedia_, incorporated into the text, Touponce summarizes a vast amount of material describing the creation of the _Dune_ cycle. _Frank Herbert_ examines what Touponce terms the "Dostoyevskian complexity" of Herbert's characters, the "polyphonic" quality of the novels, and the evocative themes that permeate his works and reveal a profound questioning of roles that heroes play in our discovery of human potential and limitations. Touponce offers an analysis of Herbert's concept that the _Dune_ cycle may be comparable to an "ecological fugue", in which many different voices are heard, and describes the profound effect of _Dune_ on the development of the science fiction novel. Touponce's investigation includes the approach of reader-response criticism, making this an accessible, comprehensive, and up-to-date volume suitable for college courses as well as for readers who are interested in the evolution of this prolific and masterful science fiction writer. About the author: William F. Touponce is the author of two other books: _Ray Bradbury and the Poetics of Reverie_ and _A Reader's Guide to Ray Bradbury_. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities award, and a University of Massachusetts fellowship. Currently, Dr. Touponce is an assistant professor of English at Indiana University-Purdue in Indianapolis.