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"But, there is more to a book than the opinion of the people reading it. Books are art, and art can be altered by context."
How is "the opinion of people reading it" not "context?" If I say "Gormengast" to you, what does it mean? I reckon it means nothing. However, for a generation of intellectuals, "Gormengast" was a touchstone for government bureaucracy and informed a lot of literature. Were the Beatles influential? Yeah, but were they more influential than Hendrix? Depends on what year it is. When Oasis was big, the Beatles were influential. When U2 was big, Hendrix was influential. Was CITIZEN KANE influential? Well, from a technical standpoint hell yes. Does that make MTV's The Real World "art?" After all, it was the first of an entire category of entertainment. They're just books.