Every time is see a post like this I get the urge to pretentiously rant about the ongoing decline of appreciation for aesthetic values. Tech culture often seems completely tonedeaf on artistic issues. Talking about the &quot;value proposition&quot; of the novel is borderline comical. If the fiction books you&#x27;ve read could be edited down to novella length, you should read better fiction books.<p>I have no idea how we got to a place where the value of Tolstoy, Cervantes, Flaubert, etc. needs to be defended from Breaking Bad and cinema (not that there&#x27;s anything wrong with Breaking Bad and cinema). But apparently most people currently seem to be at a point where if they read the first few pages of &quot;Lectures on Literature&quot; they&#x27;d just squint their eyes, cock their heads, and proceed to not understand one part of what it means to &quot;remain a little aloof and take pleasure in this aloofness while at the same time we keenly enjoy—passionately enjoy, enjoy with tears and shivers—the inner weave of a given masterpiece&quot;