Is literary fiction really more profound, or is it just seen that way because it's often less entertaining?

Literary fiction can be more profound than popular fiction. Sometimes it is also entertaining. Literary fiction often follows the psychology and emotions of each character through the story arc, motivations suggested rather than described. Popular fiction will provide a veneer of motivations.

Similar to all other mediums, some popular fiction can reach the level of Literary fiction and literary fiction can, at times, be thoroughly enjoyable. It is nature of things that over time genres blend and mix. Once upon a time Stephen King was seen as a horror author and that alone. He has now written in many genres and could be accused of (rather regularly as he has grown older) literary fiction.

In Fiction, this takes a little longer than it did in popular music where in a three minute song, innovation was the order of the day. A good book, Literary or otherwise, takes a little longer to write and so has changed and blended genres over a longer period of time. But now we have detective stories that are also horror stories, literary fiction that is fantasy, and comedies that contain swathes of philosophy.

I often find (and I read a great deal) philosophy, psychology and literary fiction in all kinds of novels these days.

There is a literary fad at the moment where many (predominantly) women writers are retelling the classics from a female point of view. Madeline Miller, Pat Barker, Constanza Casati and a number of others are writing excellent novels with a literary bent that are also enjoyable reading.

I suspect that some readers in the past have picked up something like “Being and Nothingness”, “Steppenwolf” or “Ulysses” and thought to themselves, “these books are no fun to read. They may have depth but I want to read something that I will enjoy reading”. These books are labeled “literary” and so many readers eschewed literary works. Literary fiction is still being written now and it need not be like Hesse or Sartre or Joyce it can be enjoyable and still very well written.

It need not be as dull as Joyce or Hesse.

A dark horror novel by Raymond Walker