Popularist or Literati?

[Lalwendë]

I thought this topic might be of interest to 'Downers. Let's hope that nobody has posted this one before.

The latest winner of the Booker Prize has been announced, Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty. This is not intended to be a discussion about this particular novel, but following on from comments I have read today, about whether readers are polarised as 'popularists' or 'literati'. As we are all Tolkien fans some may class us in the 'popularist' grouping, simply due to the incredible fame and readership of Tolkien's work. I have posted a link here to the BBC's Talking Point page where I noticed that rather polarised views have been posted about the merits and otherwise of the prize, including what I would class as misguided comments about fantasy fiction.

Some comments I picked up on include the anti-popularists:

Rowling writes kids' books, and Pratchett writes books squarely aimed at computer studies students. Maybe that's why they're not included?

Anyone who thinks that light-hearted fantasy pulp that does nothing to hold a mirror up to human life, should probably steer clear of the Booker and accept that some people still regard the novel as an art form

And the anti-literati:

they are ridiculously clever, but they are also stuffy, pretentious and only suitable for the more extremist black-polo-neck-wearing faux-cognoscenti of the publishing world. Real people read real books by real authors, not the pretentious, high-brow muck that is written probably with the Booker prize in mind!

I personally would not consider myself at either end of the scale and I am shocked by such opinions. I count as favourites not only Tolkien but other so-called "light-hearted fantasy pulp", such as Gormenghast and His Dark Materials, and also count several Booker Prize winning books amongst my all time favourites, e.g. A.S. Byatt's Possession, Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea and Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

My point is, are readers really 'polarised' to any extent? I would be interested to hear what other 'Downers have to say about this, whether you consider yourself, as a Tolkien fan, in one group or the other, or if, like me, you can't comprehend why readers would so willingly exclude themselves from potentially amazing books? Should Tolkien really be included in the area of 'literary' fiction?

P.S. - if it's on the wrong board then I do apologise. I chose 'books' as it's neither a mirthful nor a straightforward topic.