Dune Rehabilitation in Progress
Abstract
Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965), a classic of twentieth century American science fiction (sf), describes a fantastic universe where noble families, corporate interests and shadowy, cultish organisations vie for power and monopoly over a fantastic resource, the spice-melange. It is inarguably the power source of the novel’s setting and its narrative. The immensely valuable and addictive substance increases longevity and radically expands the capabilities of the human mind – enabling movement, commerce, and communication on an epic scale. Positioning sf as “the literature of cognitive estrangement”, I regard the spice-melange as a discursive platform for oil and the ideological, social and political formations that are inextricable from reliance on black gold, while its deleterious aspects are disavowed or deferred. I argue that this collective response constitutes oil as offshore: the degree to which it is implicated in modern political and social formations is fundamentally understated. On the contrary, it is framed as an object of science and political economy, not as their material basis; a mentality only made possible by a utopian discourse of everlasting, ecstatic innovation; itself a discourse made all the more potent by oil’s power and mutability. I argue furthermore that sf is the approach best suited to combat the dominant discourse of oil as an offshore object of our society. Sf’s utopian projects and excessive spectacles may serve as a spark to imagine new, alternative energy futures; as the estranging mechanisms of sf allow us to explore our energy present through extrapolations and analogies of new ways of powering human life. My final argument is that, by highlighting the centrality of energy to modern life and culture, sf is framed as an immediate and terrestrial concern in texts such as Dune.
Opsomming
Frank Herbert se Dune (1965) is 'n klassieke werk van twintigste-eeuse Amerikaanse wetenskapsfiksie waarin 'n fantastiese heelal beskryf word waar adellike families, korporatiewe belange en geheimsinnige, kultiese organisasies meeding om mag en monopolie van 'n fantastiese hulpbron, die speserymengsel. Dit is onbetwisbaar die kragbron van die roman se agtergrond en verhaal. Dié middel is ongelooflik waardevol en verslawend – dit verhoog langlewendheid en kan 'n radikale uitbreiding van die vermoëns van die menslike verstand bewerkstellig, wat beweging, handel en kommunikasie op 'n epiese skaal moontlik maak. Die speserymengsel posisioneer wetenskapsfiksie as “die literatuur van kognitiewe vervreemding” en ek beskou dit as 'n diskursiewe platform vir olie en die ideologiese, sosiale en politieke formasies wat onlosmaaklik deel is van afhanklikheid van swart goud, terwyl die nadelige aspekte daarvan ontken of opsy geskuif word. Ek voer aan dat hierdie kollektiewe reaksie olie as aflandig konstitueer: die mate waarin dit in moderne politieke en sosiale formasies geïmpliseer word, is in wese onderbeklemtoon. Inteendeel, dit word geformuleer as 'n objek van wetenskap en politieke ekonomie, nie as hul materiële basis nie; 'n denkwyse wat slegs moontlik gemaak word deur 'n utopiese diskoers van ewigdurende, ekstatiese vernuwing, wat opsigself 'n diskoers is wat soveel meer kragdadig gemaak word deur die krag en onbestendigheid van olie. Ek voer verder aan dat wetenskapsfiksie die mees geskikte benadering is om die dominante diskoers van olie as 'n aflandige objek van ons samelewing te bekamp. Die utopiese projekte en oordrewe vertonings van wetenskapsfiksie kan dien as aansporing om nuwe toekomste geskoei op alternatiewe energie te bedink, aangesien die vervreemdende meganismes van wetenskapsfiksie ons toelaat om ons energiegawe te ontgin deur ekstrapolerings en analogieë van nuwe maniere om menslike lewe aan te dryf. Ter afsluiting voer ek aan dat wetenskapsfiksie, deur beklemtoning van die sentrale rol wat energie in hedendaagse lewe en kultuur speel, in tekste soos Dune uitgebeeld word as 'n onmiddellike en terrestriële aangeleentheid.
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