<div> </div>
<div>Vis-a-vis "The Death of Doctor Island," <a href="http://webster.com">webster.com</a> gives one</div>
<div>definition of offensive thusly: "giving painful or unpleasant sensations."</div>
<div>So, it appears that a work can be deemed offensive without any</div>
<div>question of the authors personal motivations or opinions.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>>It's just that Wolfe seems to be really fond of including misogynist<br>>characters and situations in his stories.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I think that's simply his brutal realism. I never read an author who was </div>
<div>less interested in easy escapes and happy endings. His characters</div>
<div>suffer, and they suffer a lot. Look at history and the world around you.</div>
<div>Is misogyny the exception or the rule in human relations? The bad</div>
<div>guys do very bad things to women, and they usually get away with it.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>This view of the world is cognizant with Wolfe's catholicism. The</div>
<div>devil rules the world of flesh, and God rules the world of spirit.</div>
<div>It makes his stories more gripping and his more characters more</div>
<div>real. When I read about characters that float through life as though</div>
<div>in a cloud, without any pain, I wonder "why should I care?"</div>
<div> </div>
<div><br> </div>