And let’s examine commercial fiction. Even the word commercial is enough to turn people off. But look at Victor Hugo. I don’t think there’s any writer who was as commercial as Hugo. Except maybe Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Thackery, and Joseph Conrad. These writers serialized their novels and poems, which had the effect of making them cheaper, and thus available to more readers of all income and intelligence levels. As a result, they had commercial success. They got paid more money, and their work was accessible to people from all walks of life. Commercial success. And these commercial works are studied as literature today.
So what is the point of this ranting blog? My point is that setting out to write a work of great literary import that will impress the learned of society is missing the mark. In my view, a work of literature is nothing but foul wind unless it is also somewhat commercially successful.