@tocute1245520 said:

Friend graduated from Thomas Jefferson law and spent two years post-law school working at Nordstrom rack :(

That's tough. I hope they managed to find something!

It makes sense. I think the way you originally interpreted the passage is correct - that both qualities are necessary to have good literature. I'm not an expert on grammar, but I think the use of "characterizes" would be incorrect, because the sentence is talking about two things (intricacy and the focus on the significant) being characteristic of good literature. If it was written with "characterizes," then the word "intricacy" would be awkwardly placed in that sentence.

Further, the author is noting a difference between inferior literature versus good literature. And good literature is characterized as having both of the elements of intricacy and the focus on the significant.