Elves, goblins, and trolls seem to be the timeless creations of the distant past, but gremlins were born in the 20th century.
精灵、小妖精和侏儒似乎是远古时代永恒的产物，但小妖精诞生于20世纪。
2
What is in question is not the retrieval of an absolute, fixed or "true" meaning that can be read off and checked for accuracy, or some timeless relation of the text to the world.