Robert Coover

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This is addressed to everyone, but especially Martin, since I know he's a big Coover fan: What should I read first?

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Friday, 28 February 2003 21:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Go for one of the lovely slim ones first, like Whatever Happened To Gloomy Gus Of The Chicago Bears? or The Universal Baseball Association, Proprietor J. Henry Waugh (that's from memory because I can't be bothered going upstairs) or, just for the fun of buying/borrowing a book with such a title (though it really is one of his very best), Spanking The Maid.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 28 February 2003 21:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd read Spanking the Maid.

― Mary (Mary), Friday, 28 February 2003 21:43 (twenty-three years ago)

My copy has an erotic-print-society style drawing of panties on the cover too. Even better.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 28 February 2003 21:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I might need to pick up some more Coover as well (The Public Burning was fantastic).

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 28 February 2003 21:54 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Babysitter," a short story from Pricksongs and Descants is good, too, and pretty widely anthologized.

― Prude, Friday, 28 February 2003 21:56 (twenty-three years ago)

er...you could read his new one...

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0302/rutigliano.php

― Mary (Mary), Friday, 28 February 2003 22:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks. I bought The Origin of the Brunists on Friday because it looked the most interesting to me, read about a page of it before I went to sleep (not because it was boring, because I was tired). Then on Saturday, I went to the used book store and they had the Universal Baseball Association one, so I bought that, then I was waiting for my girlfriend and that was the only book I had with me, so I started reading that one instead, now I'm about halfway through it. It's good. I'll save the Brunists for after.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Monday, 3 March 2003 20:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Brunists was his first, and is very uncharacteristic indeed. It's pretty good, but the UBA one is much, much more representative.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 3 March 2003 21:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh God yeah, the Universal Baseball Association is great. The edition I have is painfully small-print, which made me want to hate it, but story won out over eyestrain. I'd completely forgotten I wanted to read more by him -- I read it during a reading-heavy semester (for a class called "Baseball and Myth") and didn't have time for pleasure reading.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 3 March 2003 21:33 (twenty-three years ago)

So far it's a really interesting study of obsession, but I was imagining something more satirical (a little more Gaddisesque, though I guess it's good that it's not, since as you'll remember, I didn't like the Gaddis that I read). It's more "serious" than I imagined. But good.

― Nick A. (Nick A.), Monday, 3 March 2003 21:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I wonder if Felicity has read it.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 3 March 2003 21:51 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

I just finished Universal Baseball Association. I loved the ending of chapter six.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Friday, 22 October 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I ended up reading a few more Coover novels after this thread, but was disappointed by most of them. I really liked Universal Baseball Association, and his first novel, The Origin of the Brunists, which are the more conventional ones. I guess I don't care for his more experimental works.

― n/a (Nick A.), Saturday, 23 October 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

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