As Nonfiction Blossoms, Literature May Wither

“Nonfiction, once relegated to the ‘good for you, like oatmeal’ shelf, has become the kind of fare readers choose for enjoyment. In this age of declining readership for all sorts of publications, any reading is good reading, right? Maybe. But does a de-emphasis of the literary novel — still the form of entertainment that requires the most engagement and conjecture on the reader’s part — coincide with a devaluation of the imagination?”