Corrections:

1. We repeatedly say Dune was written in the 50s. It was published in 1965. Maybe Herbert was researching it in the 50s but we don't know that. We meant 60s.
2. Alex says Herbert grew up on the Eastern seaboard of the US. It was actually the Western seaboard -- he was born in Washington state.

We continue our Dune series by tackling an aspect of the world that was probably viewed very differently in the 60s compared to the modern era. Herbert heavily based the idea of the Fremen, their language, and their religion, on the Middle East and North Africa.

Did he do it to enlighten his readers through the lens of SciFi, or utilise a mysterious foreign people and religion to prop up the otherness of the peoples in his novels? Is Dune ingerently orientalist?

"The Muslimness of Dune" by Haris Durrani on Tor.com

Intro music by QubeSounds from Pixabay.

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