The Complete Butcher's Tales [Paperback]

Rikki Ducornet (Author), Ducomet Rikki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Nearly sixty unforgettable stories in the fantastic tradition of Jorge Luis Borges, Bruno Schulz, Angela Carter, and H. P. Lovecraft. Includes two previously uncollected stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark provides the epigraph; his Jabberwocky donates the title of one story, "Brillig"; and something of his creepy whimsy--mixed with a pinch of Chekhov and a hint of Rod Serling, among others--informs all 54 of these short pieces, 30 of which appeared in a limited Canadian edition in 1980. Best known for her Tetralogy of Elements novels, a series that recently concluded with The Jade Cabinet , Ducornet here offers a brilliant, refreshingly varied collection: a shoe salesman in Florida, apparently modeled on her maternal grandfather, inspires "Shoes and Shit"; a mysterious flying jade saucer that blots out the sun and presages other more vile desecrations is the subject of "The Jade Planet"; in "The Imaginary Infancy of Heinrich Schliemann," the young archeologist's father tries to determine his future through copromancy. Unhinged old women, fey children vaguely menaced and menacing pubescent girls also populate these stories, which are all told in prose of such beauty that one can't help silently mouthing the words. Fluid, studied, almost overripe, it is also intensely visual: "A mature albino ape, its heart pierced by an arrow, falls from a tropical tree. As he falls he attempts to catch the bloody ropes spouting from his breast. In truth his wound is fathomless, a mortal fracture in the body of the world."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

There's little straight narrative in these 50 brief, tantalizing fictions from the daring author of The Jade Cabinet ( LJ 2/1/93), and it doesn't all work. But the best pieces are garishly vivid, splendid little nightmares. In "Max, Moleskin and Glass," a flamboyant, eccentric lesbian has herself enbalmed and encased in glass in the pose of writing a famous, unfinished sentence, thus becoming the darling of the surrealists. The title character in "The Tale of the Tattooed Woman" is so consumed by hate she bites the head off a pet canary, then lures her dog into a trap and delights in watching it bleed to death. Filled with self-loathing, she first marks herself with ink as a reminder "never to kill again." In "Haddock's Eyes," a sort of literary homage, "Borges, Uqbar's most celebrated chronicler," directs the author to an archaeological dig in quest of "early Gnostic curios." An old hag in "Desire" implores her daughter to "be kind to this moldering fruit. . . . We are all born princesses only to shrivel in the sun." An acquired taste, to be sure, but worth the effort.
- Ron Antonucci, Hudson Lib. & Historical Soc . , Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564782298
• ISBN-13: 978-1564782298
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,329,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative, disturbing, disorienting ... and uneven, September 3, 2001

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Butcher's Tales (Paperback)

The back of this book includes the description "In the fantastic tradition of Borges, Bruno Schulz, Angela Carter, and H. P. Lovecraft ..." This is a reasonable description of this collection of stories ranging from superb to interesting failures. Examples:

Missy is a tale of children's cruelty to each other in the context of an invitation to a birthday party for the purpose of humiliating a guest. This story has a touch of voodoo.

Two stories (Friendship and The Double) deal with the growth of doubles - one growing from an apparent tumor, the other growing from feet which detached themselves from their original body.

Replacement of / detaching of heads is another common motif e.g.Aunt Rose and Uncle Friedle.

Alchemy, murder, sex, shoes all make multiple appearences - used equally in humor and horror.

A few of the stories carry serious meaning i.e. "Saida" which is dedicated to Salman Rushdie which explores religious rigidity; or A Lunatic's Apprentice which spoofs gullibility and false religiosity.

Many of the stories, however, are merely well written insights into Ducornet's imagination. Or, put another way, the collection has more Lovecraft and less Schulz than I would prefer. Nonetheless, I will watch for additional short fiction by this inventive author.