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+---
+title: 'Influence, Part II'
+date: '2002-06-26T10:38:33-04:00'
+permalink: /influence-part-ii/
+tags:
+    - novels
+    - obsolescence
+---
+
+[Previously](/hey_wheres_the_joy_of_cooking/), on Planned Obsolescence: the book list, not as designator of “quality” or “greatness,” but rather of “influence,” which [one intrepid reader](http://www.wombatfile.com) understood to be the fluidity with which a book’s central concept made itself available to cocktail party chatter.
+
+Now, another [list](http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,711682,00.html), this one voted upon by “around 100 of the world’s top authors,” in an attempt to determine the “most meaningful book of all time.” The winner: [Don Quixote](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=0IBSHWP639&isbn=0140440100).
+
+I return to the question of the list today because the [Chronicle of Higher Education](http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i42/42a00903.htm) (sorry, subscription required) reported the same story this week, but described the list as that of “the 100 most influential works of fiction.” So I started thinking that perhaps this list might help me understand this business of literary influence a bit better than I presently do. Are “influence” and “meaningfulness” related? Or is the entire list-making hoo-ha (which frankly I thought we’d seen the end of for a while) up to some other goal?
+
+While I ponder, a few observations:
+
+1. Europeans are more influential than Americans, 2 to 1.
+
+2. Men similarly out-influence women, almost 8 to 1.
+
+3. While the Boston Public Library was not apparently particularly influenced by *Invisible Man,* around 100 of the world’s top authors were.
+
+4. Morrison, yes. Pynchon, no.
+
+5. I’ve read an embarrassing 41 of 100.
+
+A final thought: who drew up the list of around 100 of the world’s top authors, who then drew up the list of the 100 most meaningful/influential books? Could it be argued that the creator(s) of *that* list are in fact the most influential of all?
+