No disrespect to Tim Parks who I know is a very clever man, but I think the death of the novel/of architecture/of painting/of fashion/of the serious film/of theatre/of any art form has been confidently pronounced too often over too many decades for me to take such pronouncements too seriously.

Maybe I'm naive, but I think the first question literary agents and publishers are interested in is "Does this thing work?" I think taxing but rewarding books continue to be published and continue to find readerships.