Frank Herbert's »Dune« (1965) is considered to be one of the most successful Science Fiction
novels of the 20th century. It introduces its readers to a future universe in which the
production of the most valuable resource of the universe - 'spice' - is only possible on one
vast desert planet called Arrakis. »Dune« offers many different motifs including a hero that
eventually turns into a superhuman being. However the novel is also rich of orientalist
semiotics and relates to a sign system existent when Herbert wrote his book. Frank Jacob
discusses these semiotics in detail and shows how much of »Lawrence of Arabia« is present in
the story's plot.
