Character Analysis
Koteks is an engineer at the Yoyodyne Corporation, whom Oedipa meets when she gets lost during a tour at the plant. When she approaches she finds him sketching a muted post horn on the back of an envelope and is immediately interested.
Koteks is obsessed with Yoyodyne's patent clause, which gives the company a right to their employee's inventions. When Oedipa doubts that people still invent things, Koteks tells her about John Nefastis and gives Oedipa Nefastis's address. As Koteks describes how the machine works, Oedipa thinks she is in the presence of a total loony.
But having seen the muted post horn, Oedipa can tell that Koteks knows something about Tristero. She tries to pretend that she is also part of the organization, but Koteks quickly realizes what she is doing and refuses to tell her anything else.
Koteks name is a simple pun on "Kotex," a popular pad brand in the 1960s (and today). It is one of the names in the book that seems to mock scholars who make too much of Pynchon's references and associations. But our man Koteks is significant because he leads Oedipa to Nefastis, where she learns about Maxwell's Demon, a concept that is central to the book.