Coover, Robert (Lowell) (1932– )

US writer. His first novel, The Origin of the Brunists (1966), established him as a postmodernist who recombined elements of mythology, Bible stories, and popular culture. His fiction, which often explored dogmatic extremism, included The Public Burning (1977), A Political Fable (1980), and Pinocchio in Venice (1991).

The Origin of the Brunists won the 1966 William Faulkner Award. He has also published plays, collected in A Theological Position, and poetry.

He was born in Charles City, Iowa. After graduating from Indiana University in 1953 he served in the US Navy 1953–57. After receiving a master's degree in humanities from the University of Chicago, he taught at several colleges, including Princeton University 1972–73 and Brown University from 1980. He lived mostly in England and Spain from the 1960s onwards, returning frequently to the USA to teach.