I just finished Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. In it there is a passing reference to the Peace of Westphalia. The last novel I read before this one was Candide, which is named after the lead character, who hails from Westphalia. In this story Candide and his mentor, Dr. Pangloss, are at one point subjected to an auto de fé, which is an expression you don't hear much. However, you do find the term used in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress to describe Luo and The Narrator's ritual-esque burning of the contraband books they had been hiding away. The relevant point here being that just before Candide I read Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.
I was little dissapointed in the conclusion to The Crying of Lot 49.
It seemed misplaced.