What makes a classic novel truly timeless — is it the quality of the writing, or the cultural impact it has over generations? I've noticed that some books I find beautifully crafted, like those by Virginia Woolf, aren't widely read today, while others with simpler prose, like To Kill a Mockingbird, remain classroom staples. Maybe the literary canon says more about what societies value at a given time than about the inherent merit of the works. So, when we label a book as 'great literature,' are we judging the text itself or the history and debates that surround it?