Frank Herbert and His Classic Novel, Dune Essay -- Frank Herbert Dune

Frank Herbert and His Classic Novel, Dune â€Å"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.† Princess Irulan speaks these words in the award-winning novel Dune (Novel). Frank Herbert knew this quote was true because he carefully planned his epic masterpiece before he started writing. The novel could only happen after research of a variety of topics. Dune has many different influences and origins. Frank Herbert’s complicated book, covering a variety of themes, took six years to complete (Wikipedia). Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma Washington on October 8, 1920. At an early age, he carried around books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells in a Boy Scout backpack. At the age of eight, he stood on the kitchen table and declared that he wanted to be an author. His maternal grandfather, John McCarthy, said that Frank, only a small child, was much smarter than his age. Frank was very similar to Lady Alia, a character in Dune. They both had the mind of an adult in a child’s body (Dunenovels). Herbert did not immediately become a writer, but started work in journalism. He lied about his age to work for the Glendale Star in 1939. He put his writing career on hold and joined the United States navy during World War II. He married Flora Parkinson in 1941 and divorced in 1945. Herbert fathered one daughter from this marriage (Wikipedia). After the war, Herbert met a young woman named Beverly Ann Stuart in a creative writing class at the University of Washington. Frank’s son, Brian, once said that Frank did not graduate from college because he did not want to take all of the required courses. He only wanted to take the classes that interested him. Herbert and Beverly, his fu... ...ls). The merging of various themes and cultures is part of what has made Dune so popular.The novel has been translated into more than twenty different languages and is constantly being reprinted. The many influences of Dune, including the Arabic words, the Islamic culture, and real ecological problems helped shape Dune into a timeless classic. Works Cited Herbert, Frank. Dune City of publication: Publisher, publication date DuneNovels. 10 Sep. 2004. 12 Sep. 2004 . Wikipedia. 12 Sep. 2004 . O’Reilley, Tim. Frank Herbert. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc, 1981. Islamic Themes in Frank Herbert’s Dune. 12 Sep. 2004 . Sparknotes: Dune by Frank Herbert. Barnes & Noble12 Sep. 2004 .