If there is nowadays a backlash against fiction for not dealing with “the real world”, such poppycock, then I deduce it’s a backlash against imagination, which puts before the mind what was not there before. If we ever lose our awe before this complex emanation from the personality, then we will indeed be ready for the machine age, the hegemony of incessant data and dumbed-down reading.

Paul West

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_West_(writer)