If one accepts the premise that life is a search for meaning and the quest to understand our existence then reading Literature is one form of fulfilling that quest. The improvement part of it has to be looked at as a process than a product. Anyway improvement does not happen by itself and depends on the receptive nature of the reader. I quote from The Monk who sold his Ferrari, “It is not what you get out of books but what books get out of you”
Literature like all artistic pursuits aims to entertain first, but great Literature in a way evolves to entertain, and leads to reflection and education. Authors like Shakespeare, John Milton, or Homer and Dante are read and enjoyed even today for the quality of Timelessness that marks their works. Classical works are the product of the experience or imagination of an exalted consciousness. The world’s classics including the epics are the invaluable heritage of humanity.