rights of his dav Since his death, his reputation has grown and today he is recognized as the absolute master of his time Prior to the discovery of the Rakis Hoard, his plays were the best known account of the turbulent era from 10150 to 10219 LIFE Harq al Harba was bora Aitu Cmoh (which translates into the Frejnen "Harq al-Harba") in the town of Nelopus on the planet Yorba in 10246, the son of a well-to-do tailor and his wife, a music teacher About his early life and education, nothing is known According to tradition^ he left home at twenty and spent the next ten years traveling between planets as a salesman of minumc filmbooks for the Gwent-Orlov publishing house on Yorba (The account books of the company have survived but since they list their personnel by employee identifi cation numbers, they shed no light on this part of al-Harba's life) If the tradition is correct, al-Harba's job was to depart on the circuit of planets in his territory, carrying with him the latest publications of Gwent-Orlov imprinted on shigawire On arriving at his destination, he would contact publishers and negotiate with them for the reprint rights to the Yorban works If he was successful in selling them, the works were transcribed from his mimnuc film, and he would men seek out local works, buy the reprint rights for them, have them copied onto his compact wire, and travel to the next planet U was a job that required a good deal of both independent judgment and nsk capital, because at no time were the travelers assured'of a sale, and their material-the shigawire for the minimic film-was both fragile and extremely expensive In 10276 he apparently decided that he could write as well as the authors whose works he was buying and selling, for he severed his attachment wife Gwent-Orlov, and headed for the Imperial capital on Arrakis, where he spent the next thirty seven years of h" life In 10278, he was discovered by Ghanima Atreides and Farad n Comno, who remained his patrons for thirtv years His first play, The Sandrider met with acclaim in Arrakeen in 10280 and a hand written letter from that year thanking a critic for a favorable review is preserved in the private papers of the Hoffmch family In 10281 his signature appears (with that of "L Fen Whately,' of whom nothing is known) on the authorization card for an account at the Bank of Arrakeen In the archives of the University of Aleppo on Grumman is a letter dated 13 nAvlardim 10291 to hib publisher, H H Kanadel, raising a question about royalty payments In 10295 he purchased half interest in an Arrakeen restaurant (not a tavern as is sometimes claimed), and the contract bears his signature In 10306, he gave a deposition as a witness in a plagiarism suit brought by a fellow Arrakeen playwright against an author on Salusa Secundus The original would have been taken to Salusa Secundus for the proceedings where it has apparently been lost, but the document in the Arrakeen records is a copy attested and sealed by the Court Prothonotarv This comprises the entire documentary evidence of the life of Harq al-Harba in Arrakeen All else is contained in his works themselves or in statements by contemporaries and near contemporaries Tradition has it that he frequently stated in letters (now lost) to fnends that he could work only in absolute solitude seldom Jeav mg his room, and almost never leaving his house It has been suggested (by Dauwar Gwiltan) that al-Harba became afflicted with agoraphobia from his many space journeys, and the neurosis forced him to turn to writing While this theory is attractive, and explains many personality quirks of the writer, it has no independent support In 10313 he left Arrakeen and the writing of plays, and retired to an isolated home on Fides, where he died in 10317 WORKS Al Hdiba received more public acclaim for his history plays than for any other genre but he was equally skillful in tragedy and comedy Although he seems never to have written one of the melodramas so popular in Arrakeen, his plays contain many of the elements that gave the melo- AL HARBA QUESTION AL HARBA QUESTION dramas their appeal Twenty-one plays are generally accepted as his authentic works, all but two of them included m the famous Works volume, edited by his wife Vela Cinoh, and published on Fides in 10320 In their order of composition, they ate 10280 The Santrider (History) 10281 Kmnar Divided (History) 10283 Stiaddam /V (History) 10283 The History of Duke Lao, Part I 10285 The History of Duke Leto Part 11 10288 Soak He Sou! (Comedy) 10289 Players a OK Game cf Pebbles (Comedy) 10292 The Dusty Palms (Comedy) 10296 Hasumr (Historical Tragedy) 10297 The Shumkee Progressions (Comedy) 10298 Plenty of Time for Lore (Comedy) 10299 Carthage (Tragedy) 10300' Not the Worm Oaroboros (Comedy, not incl m Works) 10302 Water for the Dead (Tragedy) 10303 Lichaa ^Historical Tragedy) 10304 Ampoltmt (Tragedy) 10304 The Arrakeen Tarat (Tragedy) 10305 Stilgar's Dream (Tragedy) 10306 Own.