Genre Fiction as Literature

What is literature?

Yes, the dentists’ brochures on flossing, the neon green flyer tucked under your windshield, and the weight-loss ad cleverly disguised as an article in your magazine are all technically literature as written materials.

But I’m talking about the definition of literature as a creative work of excellent quality and lasting artistic value. Think Hamlet and A Tale of Two Cities. Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dante’s Inferno and Goethe’s Faust.

These are the pieces literati will hold up as paragons of literature.

But few people give credence to genre fiction as serious literature.