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.