This week, I re-read Frank Herbert's Dune for the first time in 22 years. I understand and appreciate it better a lot more as a beat-down adult than I ever did as an arrogant teenager.
Young me thought the prose in Dune was pretentious and clunky. Middle-aged me realizes that it is majestic enough to do justice to the enormous scale of the story's expanse.
Young me wanted to see more of the sandworms and psychic powers. Middle-aged me appreciates the complexity of the political maneuvering from all sides; you cannot always fight against evil using straightforward grug methods.
Young me thought "he's the space messiah; I get it already!" Middle-aged me appreciates how Leto and Paul present themes of responsibility and proper leadership, and the beauty of solidarity.
Young me thought Baron Harkonnen was a ridiculous caricature of villainy. Middle-aged me understands that a grotesque, treacherous, murderous pederast is terrifyingly accurate to real-life evils, and something worth fighting against.
I've never read any of Frank Herbert's sequels, let alone the 20 books his son cranked out (which are generally considered to be really bad), but I definitely will now that I'm mature enough to "get it".
Young me thought the prose in Dune was pretentious and clunky. Middle-aged me realizes that it is majestic enough to do justice to the enormous scale of the story's expanse.
Young me wanted to see more of the sandworms and psychic powers. Middle-aged me appreciates the complexity of the political maneuvering from all sides; you cannot always fight against evil using straightforward grug methods.
Young me thought "he's the space messiah; I get it already!" Middle-aged me appreciates how Leto and Paul present themes of responsibility and proper leadership, and the beauty of solidarity.
Young me thought Baron Harkonnen was a ridiculous caricature of villainy. Middle-aged me understands that a grotesque, treacherous, murderous pederast is terrifyingly accurate to real-life evils, and something worth fighting against.
I've never read any of Frank Herbert's sequels, let alone the 20 books his son cranked out (which are generally considered to be really bad), but I definitely will now that I'm mature enough to "get it".
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I've had a similar experience with the A Clockwork Orange movie. Mum wanted to see it, because it was banned in the UK at some point. So as a 14yo kid I watched it a couple of times (6), and I could see with all the violence, rape and drug usage why it would be banned.
FFWD a decade or so and I rewatched it as an adult and I saw speeches, political manoeuvring, incriminating of the government. Hmmmm, I now knew why mum wanted to see it.
( Eventually it turned out to be a licensing issues why it couldn't get published in the UK or something. )
