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Literary fiction, also known as
serious fiction, is a term principally used for fictional works that
hold literary merit, that is to say, they are works that offer
deliberate social commentary or political criticism, or focus on the
individual to explore some part of the human condition. Literary fiction
is deliberately written in dialogue with existing works, created with
the above aims in mind. Literary fiction is focused more on themes than
on plot, and it is common for literary fiction to be taught and
discussed in schools and universities.
Literary fiction is usually contrasted with paraliterary fiction (e.g., popular, commercial, or genre fiction). Some have described the difference between them in terms of analyzing reality (literary) rather than escaping reality (paraliterary). The contrasts between these two subsets of fiction is highly controversial among critics and scholars who study literature.