[...] Ellis's apparent vapidity and abnegation of moral issues tends to conceal a harsh, stony-faced puritanism whereas Wojnarowicz's moral stance emerges from a much gentler and more optimistic view, which nevertheless speaks of a wearing away of the spirit in close, daily observation of the unbearable. Wojnarowicz lacks something of the sense of cleansing fire occasionally perceptible in Ellis's work but that sort of scourging is a luxury that Wojnarowicz has never been able to afford. His own moral rage is a less complex, more pared-to-the-bone and ultimately much more humane manifestation of values forged in daily adversity. [...]