Wolfe: Misogynist Or Realist?

Jack Redelfs · 17 Oct 2006, 22:52 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: jackredelfs at gmail.com (Jack Redelfs)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:52:57 -0600
Subject: (urth) Wolfe: Misogynist Or Realist?
Message-ID: <19ee41770610171552g375ea2bdi83cd94265c0ef8d8 at mail.gmail.com>

>Some ways of approaching an action in a
>text, even when the narrator speaks
>disapprovingly of that act, bespeak
>another attitude on the part of the writer.

I'm not sure I agree with is, or rather, yes, I agree with it but
interpreting an author's "Narrative Voice" seems like a very
contentious and subjective thing.

I've read more Gene Wolfe books than any other author, and Card
comes in second, he's not my second favorite SF author, just very
consistent (he's somewhere in the range of #11-20).You're right that
Card has a sadistic streak, but I think you overstate your case, especially
in regards to castration. I'm  having a tough time recalling any castrations

in the novels. Maybe it was in his short fiction, most of it written quite
early.
Maybe you've mostly read his early stuff, like _Hart's Hope_, _Treason_,
and _The Worthing Chronicles_? He got a lot "softer" as he aged,
although he also became a lot more inconsistent.

I tend to think that part of the reason that Card and Wolfe are
often seen as vicious, misogynistic, or misanthropic, is this:
both writers are heavily influenced by the Old Testament.
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