How might we go about reading and assessing the worthiness of manuscript or published work?

Commentators have long responded to accusations that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice was anti-Semitic. Nabokov’s Lolita, considered by some critics to be one of the best works of the 20th century, is also described as an erotic novel advocating paedophilia. Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is considered both a warning about the dangers of encroaching religious and patriarchal fundamentalism, and a depiction of feminism as a new form of misogyny.

In your view, do these books represent literary value? Why, or why not?