I have no idea what the purpose of art or anything is. I think good fiction writing is exploring questions more than giving answers.
No, I don’t see any difference between ‘art’ and ‘entertainment.’ It’s like Raymond Chandler said, ‘There’s no high art or low art, there’s just art, and precious little of it.’
People only read books that keep them entertained, no matter what the aim of the book is, or the author’s intent. I read Kurt Vonnegut because he keeps me reading and turning the pages.
Whenever I hear art snobs diss genre comics or movies or books, I just feel bad for them. Entertaining people isn’t a small thing, and there are very few people who can do it well enough to earn a living doing it. And then I remember that Shakespeare was his day’s equivalent of a pulp writer and I laugh a little.