/lit/ - Literature

Is entertainment a worthy purpose for literature, or should literature always aspire to higher ends like the instructional (how we should behave- moral or religious teaching, communism, wokeness, social activism), or the educational (in the driest possible sense, such as transferring knowledge and skills efficiently)?

Life can be hard sometimes and so a lot of us humans seek to escape reality. However, the more I think of me actively avoiding my real existence the more it depresses me. Do you, anons, have any book recommendations which deal with this topic?
>inb4 reading about escapism is escapism
An escapist probably deludes himself into thinking that he actively makes progress, just like a reader of self-help books thinks reading the genre is improving his life. I am aware of this but I do not care.
Thanks for every contribution to the thread.