Paul Atreides is the outcome of a millennia old breeding program for people who can see the future and the rightful heir to a whole planet and (independently!) a prophesied messiah of a planet-spanning religion and a supersoldier who’s unbeatable in single combat. All of that is set up before the book even begins!!
Dune’s perspective as “political science fiction” is way skewed toward power fantasy. I don’t want to draw governance lessons from power fantasies, because that could too easily go wrong. Is there a book arguing for hierarchy from the perspective of a commoner?
Is there a book arguing for hierarchy from the perspective of a commoner?
Well, there’s Hard to be a God, in which the (quite common-born) Doctor Budakh argues thus:
“… Look, for instance, how our society is arranged. How pleasing to the eye this clear, geometrically proper system! On the bottom are the peasants and laborers, above them the nobility, then the clergy, and finally, the king. How thought out it all is, what stability, what a harmonious order! What else can change in this polished crystal, emerged from the hands of the celestial jeweler? There are no buildings sturdier than pyramidal ones, any experienced architect will tell you that.” He raised his finger didactically. “Grain, poured from a sack, does not settle in an even layer, but forms a so-called conic pyramid. Each grain clings to the other, trying not to roll down. So with humanity. If it wants to be a whole, people must cling to one another, inevitably forming a pyramid.”
“Do you seriously consider this world to be perfect?” asked Rumata with surprise. “After meeting don Reba, after the prison…”
“But of course, my young friend! There is much in the world I do not like, much I would like to see otherwise… But what can be done? In the eyes of higher powers, perfection looks otherwise, than in mine. …”
[Translation mine.]
(Naturally, this is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek answer—which is to say, I agree with your point.)
Interesting! I think you may be reading Dune backwards. I always thought of it as book strictly against the concept of heroes, rather than as a power fantasy.
No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero. (Pardot Kynes)
Make no heroes, my father said. (The voice of Ghanima)
Consider it a steelman for the pro-hero position. Paul (& others) have all the attributes you describe, and even so, even with the benefit of prescience(!) they still make their lives miserable and the lives of everyone around them. Whether you find this a convincing argument against heroes is one thing, but I think that was the tack he was taking.
Herbert’s original publisher refused to publish Dune Messiah because he found that message so personally disturbing:
Campbell turned down the sequel. Now his argument was that I had created an anti-hero in Paul in the sequel. … the thing that got to Campbell was not that I had an anti-hero in this sense, but that I had destroyed one of his gods. (FH)
Dune is a fun book to read. But:
Paul Atreides is the outcome of a millennia old breeding program for people who can see the future and the rightful heir to a whole planet and (independently!) a prophesied messiah of a planet-spanning religion and a supersoldier who’s unbeatable in single combat. All of that is set up before the book even begins!!
Dune’s perspective as “political science fiction” is way skewed toward power fantasy. I don’t want to draw governance lessons from power fantasies, because that could too easily go wrong. Is there a book arguing for hierarchy from the perspective of a commoner?
Well, there’s Hard to be a God, in which the (quite common-born) Doctor Budakh argues thus:
[Translation mine.]
(Naturally, this is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek answer—which is to say, I agree with your point.)
Interesting! I think you may be reading Dune backwards. I always thought of it as book strictly against the concept of heroes, rather than as a power fantasy.
Consider it a steelman for the pro-hero position. Paul (& others) have all the attributes you describe, and even so, even with the benefit of prescience(!) they still make their lives miserable and the lives of everyone around them. Whether you find this a convincing argument against heroes is one thing, but I think that was the tack he was taking.
Herbert’s original publisher refused to publish Dune Messiah because he found that message so personally disturbing: