Dune — From Herbert’s to Villeneuve’s (Roundtable / In-Person)
Special Session
Cultural Studies
/ Film and Media Studies
Trip McCrossin (Rutgers University - New Brunswick)
trip@****.com (Log-in to reveal)
PAMLA meeting within a year of the sixtieth anniversary of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and within a year since the appearance of the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed two-part film adaptation, is occasion for a four-part exploration at the intersection—of Villeneuve’s adaptation in its own right, of the various ways it amends the original, of what we may anticipate as a result of his forthcoming adaptation of Herbert’s first sequel, Dune Messiah, and what anticipating the completion of his projected trilogy, and so the resurrection of a character central to the Dune Saga as a whole, may remind of its overall moral.
PAMLA will meet within a year of the sixtieth anniversary of Frank Herbert’s Dune, which appeared in August of 1965. We will also be within a year since the appearance of the second part of Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed two-part film adaptation, which has been roundly praised for its faithfulness to the spirit of the original, and in large measure to its letter, even while it does nonetheless amend it in various ways, some less modest than others. Being at the intersection of these two accomplishments is occasion for a fourfold exploration—of Villeneuve’s adaptation in its own right, of the various ways it amends the original, of what we may anticipate as a result of his forthcoming adaptation of Herbert’s first sequel, Dune Messiah (1969), and what anticipating the completion of his projected trilogy, and so the resurrection of a character central to the Dune Saga as a whole, may remind of its overall moral, as it continues with Children of Dune(1976), and from the initial to the sequel trilogy—God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)—and from there to Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson’s posthumous execution of Herbert’s notes for the saga’s conclusion—Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007).