See here, for the impotence of novels, an appraisal, from the esteemed author of many a Harlequin Romance, Peter Ackroyd.
The sheer brilliance of Ackroyd's insight that "Novels do not change anything" leads me to suggest the immediate implementation of yet another pragmatic policy that I hope will not be liable to the least objection. While Ackroyd is merely content that literature entertain and not alter, as evident by his penning of numerous Harlequin romance novels, and since I demand that literature should only and always be written solely and everywhere exclusively to greatly change the world, many, many, many times over…and since fiction plainly, it is now clear to me upon reading Ackroyd's article has no significant effect whatsoever…I therefore propose a policy that would ban both the reading and writing of fiction for all time.
Details to follow.
A Practical Policy 