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Dune Series
comicallyinsane
Veteran
I am now in the middle of the fifth Dune book. It has been a roller coaster ride. Only ten more books to go. Has anyone else read them?
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I was introduced to the world of Dune by their hugely-unpopular Dune 2000 game spin-off, took me years before I started to read the novel now, and the novels are.... Beautiful.
They were good - but I had to take a break from them.
Now I'm reading some re-reading some real heartwarming H.P. Lovecraft.
-bf
The Dune Series is next on my list though.
If you have any questions about the Spanish Civil War, feel free to post or PM me. My grandfather was a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and spent three years fighting fascism in Spain. He met Hemingway a few times during the war. So I've read my share of books about the SCW.
Anyway, I loved that book. I don't know if you finished it, so I won't discuss any of the plot.
Just think, Goby, your grandfather could have met my father during that dress rehearsal for the '39-'45 episode. My old man was out there with the ICRC. After the war, we were on holiday in the French Pyrenees and I discovered that he had sworn never to set foot back in Spain until Franco and his murderers had gone. Alas, he didn't live to see the day.
Not much made my grandfather cry, but talking about Spain could. If only Hitler was stopped in Spain.....
Your father must have seen some terrible things in Spain. It was such a brutal war. Such hatred. Definitely Good vs. Evil. My grandfather did live to see Franco die, but never made it back to Spain. This weekend the US is getting its first official memorial to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
So that it doesn't appear that we are hijacking this thead, I will say that I greatly disliked Science Fiction, then I read the original Dune. Wow!!! What a book!!!
Wow, that's awesome! I take it he fought in the International Brigades, correct? Do you know if he was infantry/demolitions/or something else? That would have been strictly under communist control then I believe. Or was he affiliated with another party like the Anarchists or Trotskyists?
Well, I never got around to the Dune series, but I have read Hemingway's and Orwell's books on the Spanish Civil War. I loved them both. Orwell's was autobiographical though since he ended up fighting in the war, rather than just reporting as he had originally intended.
With regards to "For Whom the Bell Tolls," I absolutely loved the simple prose that it was written in. Now despite my love of books, I am a notoriously slow reader and all too often, I think the books I read will get weighed down in adjectives and needless descriptions of things. (It shouldn't take 3 pages for a character to clear his throat)
This was of course not the case with Hemingway's novel on the Civil War. Hemingway was a brilliant writer and despite the 'get-to-the-point' nature of his stories, his characters were very deep and I never felt as if they were 2-dimensional.
I loved the points in the novel when characters like Jordan or Anselmo would have their moments of introspection; the necessity of violence, hopelessness, killing/murder, etc. I think that Heminway is saying that while dying for beliefs in themselves accomplishes nothing, dying to save someone else is far more heroic and worthy of admiration.
The conclusion that 'Roberto' draws on suicide (a cowardly action), is painfully ironic when you consider how Hemingway died.
Probably the most moving part of the story is when Jordan and Maria discuss how a full life can be lived, even if they know they might very well die the next day. They can be happy for the rest of their lives even if that life is only lived in a matter of hours.
All in all, I thought the book (and film) were both exceptional.
Do you know of any other good books on the "good fight"?
Anyway, he arrived in the US, and when the SCW started, communists from all over knew this where fascism needed to be stopped. Rather than engage the 1936 Berlin Olympics (smells like Beijing 2008?), there was a war to fight and win. Victor bought a forged Spanish passport, and spoke Spanish well enough to pass as a Spaniard. He traveled to France, and illegally entered Spain.
He fought in both the International Brigades and the Spanish Republican Army. He had one of the most important jobs in Spain... he was a mechanic. His unit was the "Regiment de Tren," which was a transportation unit. The Democracies enforced a trade embargo against the democratically elected Spanish Republic, and no replacement parts ever arrived. This made the job of being a mechanic of utmost importance. Of course Hitler and Mussolini did not honor any such embargo, and so Franco had problems getting supplies.
Everyone there fought, so my grandfather was also "infantry" part of the time. He said he never saw anyone die from his bullets, but he did shot at fascist soldiers. He was not an Anarchist or Trotskyist. Just a regular Communist who hated war, and wanted food and shelter for everyone in the world.
My favorite book on Spain is "The Passionate War" by Peter Wyden. I also loved "The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade" by Peter Carroll. A great documentary is "The Good Fight," which was made in the mid-80's.
It is interesting that my grandfather, who was a communist till he died in 1994, never lived in a communist country. He tried to get to the USSR, but was unable. I read the book "Gulag" (amazing!!) and read that most Americans who made it to the USSR during the 30's to live in the Soviet Utopia died there during the purges. Communism, in theory is so "wonderful," but the reality is so different....
I have a friend who fought with Tito during WWII, and he was a devote communist during the war. But after the war, the evils of communism happened in Yugoslavia. He was jailed several times, and finally escaped. There is no doubt that Tito did many wonderful things, but once the war was over and there was food, people demand freedom. Tito ended ethnic cleansing, and didn't punish the Croats for their war crimes, but he didn't offer freedom. (BTW, my family is Jewish, so I also read a lot about the Holocaust, and until recently had no idea how much the Serbs suffered under the Croats during WWII... The Croats made the Nazis look like girl scouts!!).
It is interesting that the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade disliked both Orwell's book (for obvious reasons) and Hemingway's FWTBT. They greatly disliked FWTBT because it is a love story, and because Hemingway "romanticized" the war. They felt it could have be more realistic. It wasn't until later that the Vets and Hemingway made peace.
BTW, my very favorite piece of prose, ever, in the entire world, is a 3 page story by Hemingway. If you haven't read "A Clean, Well-lighted Place" you must. It is simply brilliant and still makes me cry.
It's a shame how the war turned out. And despite my conservative/pro-capitalist leanings, I would have fought for the Republicans any day over the Fascists.
Yes, Orwell's Homeage to Catalonia was and still is disliked by a lot of people on the Left. He became very disillusioned by the Republican side due to the communists rounding up of political prisoners and especially the imprisonment, torture, and execution of the POUM (Party of Marxist Unity?) leader Andres Nin.
Although he saw very little fighting despite being on the front for months at a time, he nearly died from a sniper's wound to the neck. If that wasn't bad enough, he had to narrowly escape the Soviet sponsored secret police in Barcelona. Had it not been for sheer luck, we would never have Homage, Animal Farm, or 1984 today.
This is probably worthy of its own thread really, considering that we are supposed to be talking about the Dune series. But, it is cool for a SCW junkie like myself to find someone interested in it as well.
BTW, did you know Orwell was born in India very near the Nepalese border?
Palzang
Yes. His book Burmese Days was inspired by all his experiences in India. It is probably one of the greatest satirical attacks on the British Empire and imperialism from that time. Another good book.
Oh yeah, that too.
There were so many parties that the Communists, for all their issues, were just about the only ones who meant business. It was quite a time, and the issue of Socialism vs. Stalin vs. Trotsky vs. Anarchism had to wait. A lot of Lincoln brigadiers joined the CPUSA because they were about winning the war (even if Stalin wasn't). And they had a great leader in La Passioneria.
One of my favorite quotes about the war was from historian/author Eric Seveid:
"In the early mornings we would meet the sick and wounded in Paris and help them off the trains... The sight left one numb and sick. They did not look or act like shining knights of liberty...but they were."
To think that my grandfather was a "shining knight of liberty" sometimes brings a tear to my eye. He was so humble, and never talked about Spain except in great sadness.
I think another quote sums up what my grandfather thought... "I didn't even want to got Spain. I had to. Because."
Such sadness and such misery. I have a pictorial history of the 20th Century, and really it is all about man killing their fellow man. Oh yeah, and we went to the moon. Besides that, all killing, murder, and misery. Very very sad.
I think the saddest tragedy was Cambodia. Of all the killings in the 20th Century, this was the most senseless. I mean, it made no sense whatsover. Hitler killing Jews, Stalin and Mao killing enemies made "sense" is a really sickening, diabolical way, but Cambodia??? No sense whatsever.
Now I'm depressed...
I wish I had a Dune book....
Palzang
Just from what you've told us, your grandfather was a real hero. My own grandfather worked with the American Merchant Marines during WW2 and for the decade to follow. He was a big history buff and had traveled to just about every corner of the world. He died when I was only a baby and I never got to really talk to him.
Anyway, it's good to talk to someone who is actually interested in history. Not many kids at my school have any interest in reading or history.
Palzang
Palzang
Palzang
Unfortunately, much of History Channel is about "UFO Hunters" and related non-historical stuff.
I miss their monthly specials they used to have. Crescent and the Cross, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln and more.
I haven't watched any of the new "360" shows about the USS Enterprise, but I am told it is pretty good. Never a big fan of naval or aerial warfare though.