As a professor of American literature who teaches a course on bestsellers, I'm often asked to justify using such "trashy" novels as "Gone With the Wind" and "Valley of the Dolls" in a college classroom. Snobbery towards popular novels is nothing new. Writing in The Guardian in 1713, Richard Steele mocked the growing audience for novels, saying they "have no design in reading but for pleasure."

Egads, readers simply seeking an enjoyable experience! Can the apocalypse be far behind?

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