C of L 49:

[Robin Landseadel]

On Jul 14, 2009, at 11:43 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:

>  What'sinteresting about COL49 is that while Oedipa is a "good guy,"  
> there's no Pointsman, Weissman, Vibe-type bad guy.

I'd say Hitler Hilarius—the books official face of the MKULTRA  
program, the sort of ex-Nazi that would have no qualms about cooking  
up a Manchurian Candidate or two—is a bonafide "Bad Guy." On the other  
hand, there is almost always a smokey/jokey quality to Pynchon's  
California tales, designed from the ground up so that even the baddest  
guys have punch lines. The worst of the worst are reserved for V., GR  
& AtD.