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It is the result that counts, not if it is performed in a difficult or in an easy way.
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You've got a point there. I suppose it depends on what you're trying to convey and how important it is. I read fiction for the same reason I read non-fiction—to learn, not to be entertained. Of course learning can be entertaining of itself. But what I want to say is, that if you're trying to say something of great importance, and it's something that you believe would be good for the largest number of people possible to hear, then it's best to write as simply and clearly as possible. If you're not going to write something important, why write at all? When a guy like Eco goes on and on and on, and yet never says anything, it becomes pointless drivel dressed in obscurity to impress low-brows. How often has Harold Bloom done the same thing in his non-fiction? There are few people who talk so much and say so little as Bloom. But he knows lots of words.