Chapterhouse: Dune – Entry #8

The unintentional break from Dune reading has opened my eyes to missed gems and clues.

Here is a gem from Mother Superior Odrade (an Atreides, of course, and daughter of the critically important Mile Teg):

“Enclosures of any kind are a fertile breeding ground for hatred of outsiders,” she said.  “That produces a bitter harvest.”

(Chapterhouse: Dune, p. 18)

That nugget was given to nine-year old ghola Miles Teg during a walk with Odrade through the orchards of Chapterhouse. 

Then there were the clues to this epic story’s eventual climax.  On page 20, Logno, a senior aide to the Great Honored Matre, is getting herself prepared to meet with the Grand Dame but lets her fears seep into her thoughts. In her thoughts, she provides clues about the Scattering.  In the same train of thought she conjures up images of The Weapon which was used to destroy Arrakis, Futars, and the “Enemies of Many Faces”.  All in the same paragraph!  Not by accident.  And “Enemies of Many Faces”?  Face Dancers?  Oh the many developments that happened in the Scattering with those scattered Tleilaxu peoples and their biological “skills”.

Chapterhouse: Dune – Entry #7

It has been since the start of this academic year, late August 2012, since I have earnestly read in the Dune series and since I have posted in this blog.  That is a testimony to the consuming work of being a full-time teacher.  No longer half administrator (goodbye to department head position, I do not miss it and I have no doubts of the choice to step down), I am fully immersed in my courses and students … and loving it.

Now that the end of the academic year is in sight, I reset my objective of completing this journey in Dune.  To do so, I need to start Chapterhouse: Dune from the beginning again. I just finished the first chapter and what a joy!  Re-immersing myself in this story and these characters is rejuvenating; like a vacation at the beach if you know what I mean.

In this first chapter, we are observing Mother Superior Odrade and her thoughts about how to strategize against the Honored Matre onslaught.  Interestingly and not surprisingly, I found a quote that I hadn’t highlighted before which got my attention this time:

The Sisterhood had no need for archaeologists.  Reverend Mother embodied history.

(Chapterhouse: Dune, p. 5)

I quoted the chapter starter from this first chapter back in Entry #1 for this book.  It was in the Bene Gesserit Coda … if you plan to repeat history then you must control the teaching of it.  The importance of the role of history AND the teaching of it cannot be understated.