SOURCE: "Future and 'Progress' in Foundation and Dune," in Spectrum of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Sixth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, edited by Donald Palumbo, Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 113-17.

In the following essay, which was originally presented at the Sixth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Beaumont, Texas, in 1985, Riggs compares Herbert's vision of humanity's future in Dune with Isaac Asimov's vision in his Foundation trilogy (1951–53).

Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and Frank Herbert's Dune series are two monuments of American science fiction, not only because of their impact on the genre but also because of their enormous scope of vision and the consistency with which these visions are embodied in the narratives. It is this epic scope that is in large part responsible for the influence of these works. As with J.R.R. Tolkien's Ring Trilogy in fantasy fiction...