Relevance not Determined by the Beholder?

“Relevance is determined by influence.” – Norman Mailer

That was Mailer’s response to: “Has your writing had an impact?”

While Mailer was referring to the larger influence of who controls the past determining what is relevant.

The same is true on a much smaller, person-to-person scale. Perhaps relevance is like identity – defined by everyone else. Individuals can only filter and prioritize.