Robert Coover

Criticism
By mixing reality with illusion, Coover creates another, alternative world. "Amazing," "fantastic," magic" are among the adjectives used to describe his work.
Teaching
As a university professor, Mr. Coover teaches courses in electronic writing and mixed media as well as standard workshops.
Teaching
* Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 1966-67. * University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 196769. * Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., 1972-73. * Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1980present.
Teaching
He created the pioneer electronic writing (hypertext fiction) workshops at Brown University in 1990-1991, and working since 2002 with writers, composers, artists, modelers, and programmers in the immersive virtual reality of Brown's "Cave" in a workshop called "Cave Writing."
Works
The Babysitter is a 1995 film directed by Guy Ferland and starring Alicia Silverstone based on the short story by Robert Coover in his collection Pricksongs and Descants (1969).
Education Background
Universities: Indiana University (B.A., Slavic Studies, 1953) (Military Service: Lieutenant, U.S.Navy, 1953-1957) University of Chicago (M.A., General Studies in the Humanities, 1965)
Works
Robert Coover has written novels, plays, essays and film scripts as well as short stories. His short story collections include A Night at the Movies [1987], and Pricksongs and Descants [1969]. Several of his stories have been adapted into plays and films, including "The Babysitter" and "Spanking the Maid."
Robert Coover
Feb. 4, 1932—
Abbreviated CV
Robert Coover was born in Charles City, Iowa. He attended Southern Illinois University, Indiana University and the University of Chicago. He has taught at several universities and currently teaches electronic and experimental writing at Brown University.
Criticism
"Experimentalist" is a term often applied to his writing by critics. In an interview in Publisher's Weekly, he commented, "Most of what we call experimental actually has been precisely traditional in the sense that it's gone back to old forms to find its new form."
Works
Coover's best-known work, The Public Burning, deals with the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in terms that have been called magic realism. Half of the book is devoted to the mythic hero Uncle Sam of tall tales, dealing with the equally fantastic Phantom, who represents international Communism. The alternate chapters portray the efforts of Richard Nixon to find what is really going on amidst the welter of narratver Happened to Gloomy Gus of the Chicago Bears?, S&S (Linden), New York, 1987. * Pinocchio in Venice, Simon & Schuster (Linden), New York, 1991. * John's Wife, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996. * Briar Rose, Grove-Atlantic, New York, 1997.
Teaching
Coover is demonstrating the "CaveWriting" software
Awards
Robert Coover's first novel, The Origin of the Brunists, won the 1966 William Faulkner Award. His latest honor is the REA award for his lifetime contribution to the short story.
Awards
* William Faulkner Award, best first novel, 1966 * (The Origin of the Brunists). Rockefeller Foundation, 1969. * Brandeis Citation for Fiction, 1969. * Guggenheim Foundation, 1971, 1974. * 3 "Obie" awards for American Place Theater production of "The Kid," 1972-73. * American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, 1976. * National Book Award Nomination (The Public Burning), 1977. * National Endowment of the Arts, 1985. * REA Award for the Short Story, 1987. * Rhode Island Governor's Arts Award, 1988. * DAAD Fellowship, Berlin, 1990
Abbreviated CV
Robert Coover has married, and he has three children and five grandchildren. He is generally deemed as a writer of fabulation and metafication.
Works
Coover's first novel was The Origin of the Brunists, in which the sole survivor of a mine disaster starts a religious cult. His second book, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., deals with the role of the creator. The eponymous Waugh, a shy, lonely accountant, creates a baseball game in which rolls of the dice determine every play, and dreams up players to attach those results to.
Works
* The Origin of the Brunists, Putnam, New York, 1966. * The Universal Baseball Association, J. Henry Waugh, Prop., Random House, NY, 1968. * Pricksongs & Descants (short fictions), E.P.Dutton, New York, 1969. * A Theological Position (plays), E.P.Dutton, New York, 1972. * The Public Burning, Viking, New York, 1977. * A Political Fable (The Cat in the Hat for President), Viking, New York, 1980. * Spanking the Maid, Grove Press, New York, 1982. * Gerald's Party, Simon & Schuster (Linden Press), New York, 1986. * A Night at the Movies, Simon & Schuster (Linden), New York, 1987.