You’re talking style and I’m talking content.
When it comes to style, there are many novels (some worthless) that stylists would consider as “masterpiece” works.
When it comes to content, Atlas Shrugged is a masterpiece novel that’s right up there with Les Miserables.
And to put Atlas Shrugged in the same city block with almost anything by Victor Hugo is just embarassing. He was definitely a political animal (as was Anthony Trollope and to some degree Kipling) but he knew he was writing a novel and not a tract.
I can't think of any 'masterpiece' that travels on style alone - they tend to be nine-day wonders that fizzle out as soon as the publicity lets up. Good example would be stuff like A Prayer for Owen Meany which enjoyed a vogue but is now horribly passe'. Can you name one 'masterpiece' that is stylistic without content? Even Lafcadio Hearn and Henry James (two very elaborate stylists, each in his own way) have content.