Popular literature is fiction that does not deal with abstract problems; it
takes moral principles as the given, accepting certain generalized,
common-sense ideas and values as its base. (Common-sense values and
conventional values are not the same thing; the first can be justified
rationally, the second cannot. Even though the second may include some of the
first, they are justified, not on the ground of reason, but on the ground of
social conformity.)
Popular fiction does not raise or answer abstract questions; it assumes that
man knows what he needs to know in order to live, and it proceeds to show his
adventures in living (which is one of the reasons for its popularity among all
types of readers, including the problem-laden intellectuals). The distinctive
characteristic of popular fiction is the absence of an explicitly ideational
element, of the intent to convey intellectual information (or misinformation).