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God Emperor of Dune / History and memory

Choosing a lifetime

ORIGINAL ENGLISH PASSAGE

This morning I was born in a yurt at the edge of a horse-plain in a land of a planet which no longer exists. Tomorrow I will be born someone else in another place. I have not yet chosen. This morning, though—ahhh, this life! When my eyes had learned to focus, I looked out at sunshine on trampled grass and I saw vigorous people going about the sweet activities of their lives. Where . . . oh where has all of that vigor gone?

While reading this passage

Leto’s memory is more than a store of information. Lived lives become a field of comparison against which he weighs the present order.

Dune Saga Collection ↗
Frank Herbert
God Emperor of Dune · Leto’s account of memory

Selected from the supplied English EPUB. The commentary is Dunepedia’s reading note.

House Atreides · Maps appendix · Expanded universe