Reading genre fiction can be an embarrassing vice for an English major. At times it seems like reading science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels or what have you is perceived as a waste of time. If you admit that you enjoy fantasy novels, you should not be surprised when people look at you in a bemused, vaguely judgmental way and ask why you're wasting your time on that. The writers of such fiction are not accorded the same respect that "literary" authors are (this was mentioned in passing in the Jenkins article, I think). Never mind that several genres can easily be identified in canonical literature. If courses on genre fiction pop up in the catalog, you can bet that they're novelty courses or electives.