Richard Dooling writes in to report that he authored an op-ed piece pertaining to L’Affaire Lamott. The piece appeared in the Omaha World-Herald, but is not available online. But Dooling has it up on his website.

Publishers Weekly: “Random House reported a 8% decline in worldwide earnings for the first half of 2007, to 44 million euros ($60 million) while parent company Bertelsmann posted first-half losses primarily due to Napster legal difficulties.”

Thanks to Julia Prosser, here is what I’ve been able to find out about Nicholson Baker’s Human Smoke. There is not yet a subtitle to this 800 page opus, but the book is described as “a meticulously researched, astonishingly new perspective of the political, social, religious, and economic events throughout the world in the years preceding World War II—an invaluable work of nonfiction and an impassioned, persuasive call for pacifism.”

The book’s editor is Sarah Hochman, who has also edited the German writer Maxim Biller.

The release that I have also describes it as “a unique, deeply moving indictment of the treasured myths that have romanticized much of the 1930s and ‘40s—and a testament to non-violence and pacifism that applies as much to our own age as to any other.”

It also describes Human Smoke as “weav[ing] together the events and individuals that unnecessarily enabled or prolonged the irreparable damages of the war, including hundreds of often-overlooked facts, quotes, and articles that were frequently published in The New York Times, TIME, and countless other sources, which have been easily accessible to readers for generations.”

So yeah, I’d say that we might be seeing a good deal of that Baker-like precision here. The big question is just what specific elements Baker will be looking into to support his thesis for pacifism.

A new edition of The Quarterly Conversation is up, and it includes Garth Hallberg on James Wood (which features a handy flowchart of literary conflicts over the past decade), Scott on prison writing, Antoine Wilson on Remainder, among many other things. Check it out.

Levi Asher: “Why does it seem necessary to emulate Jack Kerouac’s travels in order to write about him? I’ve read much critical work on Joseph Conrad, but I’ve never yet heard a scholar claim to have first read Heart of Darkness while actually steaming up the Congo.”

I wish Levi had cited specifics about the professional critics who “still view Kerouac condescendingly when they praise him,” but I suspect he didn’t have enough space to go into detail. Overall though, it’s a nice piece, and I hope Levi expands his considerable thoughts on Kerouac elsewhere.