Back in the old days, when there was still some Holden Caulfield in the national pysche, the greatest sin was held to be pretension. Now it is the unassuming storyteller who is reviled, while mediocrities who puff themselves up to produce gabby “literary” fiction are guaranteed a certain respect, presumably for aiming high.
– B. R. Myers, A Reader’s Manifesto, p. 9.