Certainly, there is considerable social support for my young friend's viewpoint. The practical strain in American culture has long favored books that teach useful skills, and the current popularity of self-help manuals in areas ranging from time management to pectoral development has antecedents easily stretching as far back as Benjamin Franklin. This predilection for instrumental knowledge feeds American anti-intellectualism. It derives in part from the religious strain in our culture, which so strongly favors received wisdom and the work ethic.
Religion is the principal source, as well, of serious and long-standing moral qualms about fiction.
The same debates over the propriety of depicting disapproved subjects and behaviors that have become so familiar and politically charged in recent years with respect to art, photography, and film, have an even longer history with respect to fictional prose. Censorship remains a lively issue, particularly in school libraries where texts like Huckleberry Finn continue to arouse the heated opposition of local communities across the country. A perhaps more surprising wellspring of skepticism about the value of fiction comes from the intellectual world. The growth of contemporary academic disciplines has been predicated upon the triumph of empiricism, which separates fact and fiction, and ranks objective far above subjective ways of knowing. Despite recent postmodernist trends, this attitude can even be found among humanists.