# Is "The Death Of Doctor Island" Offensive? Why not?

*The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 16 Oct 2006*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4731>

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### Jack Redelfs
*16 Oct 2006, 18:44*

> I was thinking the same thing.  I mean there is some violence in
> there, but nothing more than you'd find in any of his other books.
> Heck, he had an executioner for a protaganist.  So what did you find
> offensive David?

I  don't think that David is going out on a limb, at all. Severian
may have been a torturer, but in the end he took off his fuligin and
disbanded the torturer's guild.

While "The Death Of Dr. Island," a violent young man murders a
young girl and, far from being punished, the good Dr. deems it
was a vital therapeutic step and declares the offender cured.
It's one of Wolfe's better early stories, but certainly one of his
most brutal and disturbing. I don't find it offensive, but I can
easily see how some might.

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