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I like where this discussion is going.  I definitely believe that stories also evolve, but again, I don't necessarily thinik that the original story or framework from which it was made is necessarily the most significant, or that reading the first makes the second any more easy to understand/comprehend or appreciate.  Every story, no matter what, stems from the writer's intellectual pursuits, from their life experience, or from ideas stemming from any conversation, life story, or other work of literature.  So in a sense, knowing the original story isn't that important, for the evolved story can make sense in its own context....and as life evolves itself, the same principles, themes and topics can have a new meaning and be viewed in a new light.  So, that said, I don't think it was necessary to read Howard's End before On Beauty.