The Slavonic Dances of Josef Vidich

By D.E. Butler

An inexplicable convergence of lovers threatens to complicate Josef's life, when a student from Paris arrives and presents him with a volume of Russian folktales. The addition of her libidinous intent... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583482113
• ISBN13: 9781583482117
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Haunting Imagery

Like a wonderful dream, the story sharpens and spins in wonderful directions and unexpected climaxes. A book the stirs every emotion. No passive reading here! Don't read this novel in a hurry, rather find a time and place to enjoy it.

Flawed, exquisite, charming.

This man Butler maintains a power over the imagination, seduces with sweet words, spins amusing fictions. I found myself bedfellow to the surreal and fantastic. An imperfect book, but, surely, if one can overlook the imperfections of Dr. J or John F Kennedy or Louis Armstrong one can grant this book its due, for it contains the same compelling genius that provokes us in these men.

The sort of novel I have been waiting for.

This curious and contemporary Don Juan novel is truly wonderful. As the protagonist Joseph Vidich wades through his world of desires he comes across a mysterious book of Russian folktales that ultimately challenge Joseph's percieved reality. The device of a fiction within a fiction is used to great effect (in no small part due to the marvelous Russian folktales themselves!) to challenge the line between fiction and reality in the ways Nabokov or Borges do. This novel by D.E. Butler is a great achievement and a strong step for the modern novel. Readers who are willing to invest a bit of effort in the literature they read, who want an author to challenge them, who have the highest expectations of literature, will not be dissappointed.DE Butler is one to watch.ALW

An astonishing and original first novel

Well, for those of you who of know him, this work will come as no surprise, but for those who don't, expect a story that will blow you away. Butler is already well known in Seattle as a writer, but he's also an aclaimed photographer, actor (he's the star of the wonderful mock-documentary film "Puppet Show", now showing on the Independent Film Channel), and world-class raconteur. In addition to my adoration of his work in films, I've always been a huge fan of his storytelling abilities, and waited eagerly for this book. And I've been waiting a long time for this to be published - let's face it, the publishing community has had their heads up their a** on this one. But it's finally available, and the wait was worthwhile. This is a book of surprising insight, sexual revelation, and corageous honesty. It's one of those rare books that moves the American Novel a giant step forward. Expect to read it with a sense of joy, rage, horror, bliss, and satisfaction. Happy reading...Jeffery Aguirre - The Independent Film Channel