How does one begin to measure an amorphous social, cultural, and memetic inflection due to a particular author without a control and without concrete evidence? To attempt to characterize trendsetters seems purely provincial and an anecdotal self-assessment based on biases and upbringing.

Furthermore, why can't a number of books and writers be similarly yet differently influential without a requirement of ranking them? Can't there be strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries?