‘Self-Help’ and ‘Literature’ Serve the Same Purpose

Dale Carnegie and Jo March have more in common than you think

Photo: Still from ‘Little Women’

Is it possible to read your way to self-improvement? The gatekeepers of literature as high art have always said no. Books are there to be studied, interpreted, admired, even loved — but not used. They are not there to impart lessons to the reader, to model ways of being. One…