[vacri]

Not to mention that his same arguments can be applied to all fiction (movies, plays, etc) and music ('fleeting entertainment' which you don't jot down for use elsewhere). The author sounds like a tedious, trite person that wouldn't be much fun to be around.

Similarly, while he's trying to pose as an intellectual as you say, he misses the point that we learn things in multiple layers. Rememberance of the literal wording is only one layer. Witness Romeo and Juliet, a classic story which most people are familiar with, but extremely few would be able to quote a line from. Reading this guy's essay was like listening to those insufferable fresh graduates who claim 'but I never learned anything at university'.