Those of you who have followed me for a while know I'm a sci-fi geek. Those of you who know me personally know not to mention Lord of the Rings around me, because I will nerd out for half an hour without giving you space to speak two words together. This is an American LOTR, so get ready to hear way too much about that: . I'm here to tell you that I've finally read Dune, and it is phenomenal. It is a lesser-known sci-fi classic for those who aren't into sci-fi and it is a much-beloved superstory for those who are. It inspired many more famous works like Star Wars and others. . For some context on my newfound love for this book: I do not enjoy the majority of literature written in the United States. I find our canonical authors (the white male ones, especially) to be dry, uninspired, and full of hot gaseous nothings. This bears some of the traits I do not like, but it brings them to place they belong. American lit has a weird heightened tone (so does most lit from the last century, but, woof, were we ever proud of our vocabularies and college degrees here). In Dune, the tone fits with the scene. Much American Literature has an in-your-face moral teaching, but Dune flips the theme and uses it to emphasize the interconnectedness of moral teaching. . To get back to the point about it being an American LOTR, here is a novel that shows its readers developed cultures at war with one another, microplots that all come to head in macroplots, languages and religions specialized to racial groups, and, above all, it is a mirror to its time. . LOTR is a thinly veiled admonishment to its culture: industrialization is evil, nature is beautiful. War is a terrible tragedy that should only be taken up to fight unimaginable evil, and even then, be prepared to accept a grim toll. LOTR was written by a WWI veteran, a language professor, a man who knew loss and friendship and the dangers of his society. I've read most of Tolkien's work and a good bit of biographical material there. . Oh no!!!! I ran out of space here. Apparently, the rest of this will be in the comments. (at New Oxford, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLazOL-l1kh/?igshid=1evrhm7hjvfmm
