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I love this quote.

"Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students.

— Tom Clancy


People who say the purpose of writing fiction is to

"expand the reader's understanding of humanity";
"to teach the reader about the world";
"to help the reader better understand the world and the people in it"
(... or some other bullshit)

look down their noses at published authors that write so called "commercial" fiction, i.e. with the sole purpose of taking the reader out of the misery of real life and providing pure entertainment for 300 odd pages.

Do you know why people who glorify "literature" scoff at "commercial" fiction?

Jealousy. Pure green-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth-with-covetous-zeal jealousy.

Why?

Because those who write the 300 odd pages of entertainment for the masses, that takes them away from their life for a little while -- make the money.

Let me say that again. They make the money. Writers of "literary" fiction make only what they can from an incestuous community of "literary" magazines, university presses and small independent bookstores.

They have their panties in a twist because the people writing for "fun" are selling copies of books in the millions and making twice that in royalties.

So university/college writing program professors (remember the saying: if you can't do.. teach) would rather shove sharpened No. 2 pencils in their eyes before teaching the actual craft of writing instead of how to write "literary" @#$% (...you get the idea).

Heaven forbid they have a hand in teaching us how to write the fiction we read and the bookstore customers actually want.

They'd be out of a job. Because they have no clue how to write anything but make-your-brain-melt-and-eyes-bleed drivel describing what a disgusting world we live in...

Newsflash assholes. We know. We live in it. Why do you think we buy the damn books to read when we actually have free time??