Should novels go beyond mere entertainment?

[Shared from the Archive.] Read my thoughts on today's question, then check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

I get the appeal of wanting to read a novel to escape into a world vastly different from the chaotic one in which we live. However, part of me wonders if that's actually possible, seeing as how the novels we read are written by people who do live in the real world. Or did once, anyway. Which means that those novels will inevitably be ‘tainted’ or influe…