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The Dune Encyclopedia

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.78.228.96 (talk) at 19:14, 21 August 2021 (→‎Canon status: misused references, don't support what they are claimed to support. Moving to talkpage.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Here is a rich background (and foreground) for the Dune Chronicles, including scholarly bypaths and amusing sidelights. Some of the contributions are sure to arouse controversy, based as they are on questionable sources. Others round out long speculation. Specialists have had their field day here with problems geological, biological, astronomical, and mystical, with pronounciations, major biographies, histories and accounts of little-known figures. ...[partial quote]... I give this encyclopedia my delighted approval, although I hold my own counsel on some of the issues still to be explored as the Chronicles unfold.

Frank Herbert
Port Townsend, WA
November, 1983

The Dune Encyclopedia
First edition cover
AuthorWillis E. McNelly
IllustratorMatt Howarth, et al.
LanguageEnglish
SeriesDune franchise
GenreScience fiction
Non-fiction
Published1984
PublisherBerkley
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages526
ISBN0-425-06813-7
OCLC10836869

The Dune Encyclopedia is a 1984 collection of essays "compiled" by Willis E. McNelly and multiple other contributors as a companion to Frank Herbert's Dune series of science fiction novels. The book is written as an in universe encyclopedia, where the sources and the characters themselves. Though Frank Herbert joked about the validity of the characters' credibility in the book, and said the future of the "Dune Chronicles" was his to write, he gave full approval to the contents saying "In fact, many secrets hidden in the Dune Chronicles are answered here," making it Dune franchise canon.

Overview

The Dune Encyclopedia, written by McNelly and 42[1] other contributors as a companion to the Dune series, was published in paperback in 1984.[2] It describes in great detail many aspects of the Dune universe not found in the novels themselves, such as biographies of the major characters, the languages of Fremen, Galach, (including alphabets and pronunciation), and shortened summaries of the plots of the novels. The encyclopedia also includes explanations of the armies, major schools (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, etc.), and major industries (including the spice melange), as well as descriptions of future technologies and artwork on the major characters and concepts of the novels.

Canon status

The Dune Encyclopedia was published by Berkley Books, an imprint of Putnam, the publisher of all of Frank Herbert's Dune novels; the cover called the work "complete" and "authorized."[3] Additionally, Frank Herbert approved the book, considering it "amusing" and "fascinating."[3] The Encyclopedia was compiled and published some time between God Emperor of Dune (1981) and Heretics of Dune (1984), and Herbert "read large portions of God Emperor of Dune, then in the final stages, to McNelly during the compiling of the volume so that McNelly could keep abreast of developments."[4] However, Herbert did not hesitate to render it erroneous through later developments in his Dune series. Herbert himself wrote the foreword for the Encyclopedia (dated November 1983), which noted:

Here is a rich background (and foreground) for the Dune Chronicles, including scholarly bypaths and amusing sidelights. Some of the contributions are sure to arouse controversy, based as they are on questionable sources ... I must confess that I found it fascinating to re-enter here some of the sources on which the Chronicles are built. As the first "Dune fan," I give this encyclopedia my delighted approval, although I hold my own counsel on some of the issues still to be explored as the Chronicles unfold.[3]

The nature of The Dune Encyclopedia makes its canonical status somewhat unusual; the book is written as an encyclopedia published within the Dune universe itself, edited by "Hadi Benotto,"[5] a fictional archaeologist mentioned by Frank Herbert in his novels God Emperor of Dune and Heretics of Dune.[6][7] Rather than claiming to contain absolute fact about this universe, the Introduction by Benotto notes that "Readers of The Dune Encyclopedia should understand its limitations: it is not designed as a definitive study of the entire eras encompassed by the Atreides Imperium" and that a portion of the (fictional) source material is shaped by the interests and influences of the God Emperor Leto II.[5] In that much of the information (such as the biographical or historical) may then be seen as a possible later interpretation by "historians," within the Dune universe, The Dune Encyclopedia could conceivably be held canon while agreeing that some of its information directly contradicts Herbert's works.

In 1999, McNelly stated that he had proposed to Frank Herbert that they collaborate on a Dune prequel novel, expanding upon the Butlerian Jihad story presented in The Dune Encyclopedia.[8] He noted, "FH and I had discussed writing it together and he agreed with my general plot outline, completed first chapter, and so on but his untimely death prevented us from continuing."[8]

Selected content

The Dune Encyclopedia is written in the form of an encyclopedia within the fictional Dune universe, often citing fictional written works. No reference is made to which information is taken directly from the works of Frank Herbert himself, and which has been invented.

The Encyclopedia presents extensive, alternate biographies for key characters not developed in Frank Herbert's original series, including Princess Irulan,[9] Count Fenring,[10] and Margot, Lady Fenring,[11] Anirul,[12] and Reverend Mother Mohiam.[13] In the case of Mohiam, the Encyclopedia makes the controversial claim that she is secretly the mother of Lady Jessica.[13][14] This was later rendered canon in the Prelude to Dune series; according to authors Brian Herbert and Anderson, this fact was pulled directly from Frank Herbert's working notes for the original Dune series.[15]

In the Encyclopedia, the Butlerian Jihad is attributed to Jehanne Butler, a Bene Gesserit whose developing fetus is therapeutically aborted due to apparent birth defects.[16] She soon discovers that her child had in fact been healthy, but that the hospital director, the first self-programming computer on the planet, had been secretly carrying out a policy of unjustified abortions.[16] This triggers further investigation into the extent to which such machines had been controlling society and altering the emotional and intellectual characteristics of planetary populations over a course of centuries.[17] A religious backlash incites a formal jihad.[17] In the Legends of Dune prequel series (2002-2004), the Jihad is ignited by the murder of Manion Butler, the young son of public figure Serena Butler, by the independent robot Erasmus.[18][19]

Similarly, the Encyclopedia credits the discovery of the Holtzman effect to Ibrahim Vaughn Holtzman, a genius whose brain had been transplanted into a machine;[20] Legends of Dune chronicles the development of the effect's applications after its discovery by Tio Holtzman.[19] Included in the Encyclopedia is an invented list of Great Houses supposedly in existence at the beginning of Paul Atreides' reign as Emperor; the list includes House Ordos,[21] a House which does not appear in any canon Dune work but was later used by Westwood Studios for their Dune video games. The Encyclopedia also invents a list of all Emperors of the Known Universe back to the creation of the Empire.[22]

Reception

Colin Greenland reviewed The Dune Encyclopedia for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Unlike existing reader's guides to the worlds of Tolkien and others, The Dune Encyclopedia is itself a work of fiction, rich in imaginary footnotes and learned sources, and 'newly discovered information'. Herbert himself is (of course) delighted, but promises 'Issues still to be explored as the Chronicles unfold'. Where will it end?"[23]

References

  1. ^ McNelly, Willis E. (June 1, 1984). "CONTRIBUTORS". The Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 525–526. ISBN 0-425-06813-7.
  2. ^ The Dune Encyclopedia was also released in hardcover by Putnam Adult a month later, July 13, 1984 (ISBN 0-399-12950-2)
  3. ^ a b c McNelly (1984). Dune Encyclopedia. Cover; Foreword by Frank Herbert.
  4. ^ Touponce, William F. (1988). "Herbert's Reputation". Frank Herbert. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers imprint, G. K. Hall & Co. p. 124. ISBN 0-8057-7514-5.
  5. ^ a b McNelly (1984). Dune Encyclopedia. Introduction.
  6. ^ Herbert, Frank (1981). God Emperor of Dune.
  7. ^ Herbert, Frank (1984). Heretics of Dune.
  8. ^ a b "Post by Willis E. McNelly". Newsgroupalt.fan.dune. December 21, 1999. Usenet: wmcnelly-2112991012210001@d-asdful91.fullerton.edu. Retrieved November 11, 2008.
  9. ^ McNelly (1984). "ATREIDES-CORRINO, PRINCESS IRULAN". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 103–106.
  10. ^ McNelly (1984). "FENRING, HASIMIR". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 212–215.
  11. ^ McNelly (1984). "FENRING, LADY [MINGUS] MARGOT". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 215–218.
  12. ^ McNelly (1984). "CORRINO, ANIRUL". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 169–172.
  13. ^ a b McNelly (1984). "MOHIAM, REVEREND MOTHER GAIUS HELEN". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 388–392.
  14. ^ McNelly (1984). "ATREIDES-HARKONNEN, JESSICA". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 60–63.
  15. ^ "Chat with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson: Dune: House Harkonnen". SciFi.com (Internet Archive). 2000. Archived from the original on 2007-11-05. Retrieved November 5, 2007.
  16. ^ a b McNelly. Dune Encyclopedia. p. 137.
  17. ^ a b McNelly. Dune Encyclopedia. p. 138.
  18. ^ MacDonald, Rod (January 6, 2009). "Review: Dune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson". SFCrowsnest.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  19. ^ a b Herbert, Brian; Kevin J. Anderson (2002–2004). Legends of Dune.
  20. ^ McNelly (1984). "HOLTZMAN, IBRAHIM VAUGHN/HOLTZMAN EFFECT". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 307–314.
  21. ^ McNelly (1984). "GREAT HOUSES, THE". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 273, 278.
  22. ^ McNelly (1984). "EMPERORS OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE". Dune Encyclopedia. pp. 200–205.
  23. ^ Greenland, Colin (January 1985). "Fantasy Media". Imagine (review) (22). TSR Hobbies (UK), Ltd.: 45.