What does the text mean?

Question

HI. I need help can someone please explain what this text means in simple sentences or in other words:

I want to expand this idea to consider Gothic not just as a narrative emerging out of one particular social and historical moment in time, but also as a material commodity that through various editions is produced and reproduced in a successive sequence of historical moments, even as the actual text found between the covers remains just the same. any individual gothic fiction can come to mean different things throughout its publication history: as our ideas about Gothic change, so the book is produced and reproduced differently, and the rhetorical aims and functions of the text can actually be altered by the paratexts and by the process of material production and distribution.

Answer 1

Hi so that is a difficult text so i understand your trouble. This is what I understand it to be:

The person who wrote this text wants to explain how Gothic (a type of buildings built in the 12th century) is more than just building made in the 12th century. they want to explain that Gothic style could also be found in writing. This writing continues to change as each generation redefines gothic. throughout history it can be changed but still be called gothic.

I hoped that helped. if it didn't please answer back with a little bit more context and I will try to explain it a little differently.