The impact of literature

All over the world, as governments retreat from their traditional duty to foster the common good and reconceive of themselves as mere managers of national economies, universities have been coming under pressure to turn themselves into training schools equipping young people with the skills required by a modern economy. (Coetzee) The real question for politicians, audiences and artists remains: why does art matter, even if it cannot pay its public subsidy; if it represents an investment on which there is no quantifiable return; if it cannot guarantee support from audiences; if it cannot demonstrate immediate social relevance; if it cannot say in which direction it should be moving to deliver true innovation? (Tusa 11).