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I am also getting the sense of class difference in On Beauty, and because it is a more modern novel, I am beginning to rethink my original thoughts about what deserves to go in the literary cannon.  At first I agreed that the novel need not be able to connect with our time. Howard's End did contain themes that are relevant to today's society, we see them being applied in On Beauty.  That being said, I did feel a huge disconnect between myself and Howard's End.  Upon beginning On Beauty, I feel as if this disconnect in Howard's is only more apparent.  I can obviously attribute this to the fact that On Beauty takes place in the now, while Howard doesn't. 

All that being said, I have no idea why we choose the books that we place in the cannon.  If it isn't by relevance, how do we do it? How do we make the distinctions.  This appears to be an easy question, but obviously it isn't as easy as I thought it was.