Further Reading
- Andersen, Richard. Robert Coover. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1981, 156 p. (Combines an essay discussing the role of the fiction-maker in Coover's fiction with an annotated bibliography.)
- Balitas, Vince. Review of John's Wife, by Robert Coover. Insight on the News (1 July 1996): 33–34. (Balitas commends Coover's literary experimentation in John's Wife, but notes that the work reflects the author's characteristic strengths and weaknesses.)
- Bernstein, Richard. “Tall (and Existential) in the Saddle.” New York Times (21 October 1998): E9. (Bernstein offers a positive assessment of Ghost Town.)
- Birkerts, Sven. “Horseman, Pass By!” New York Times Book Review (27 September 1998): 11. (Birkerts praises Ghost Town, but expresses reservations over Coover's tendency toward excessive farce and silliness.)
- Caldwell, Roy C., Jr. "Of Hobby-Horses, Baseball, and Narrative: Coover's Universal Baseball Association." Modern Fiction Studies 33, No. 1 (Spring 1987): 161-71. (Discusses the intertwining elements of baseball and fiction-making in The Universal Baseball Association.)
- Durand, Régis. "The Exemplary Fictions of Robert Coover." In Les américanistes, edited by Ira D. Johnson and Christiane Johnson, pp. 130-37. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1978. (Compares various critical perspectives on Coover's fiction and offers a sympathetic yet objective approach.)
- Gado, Frank. "Robert Coover." In his First Person: Conversations on Writers & Writing, pp. 142-59. Schenectady, N.Y.: Union College Press, 1973. (Interview with Coover in which he discusses his literary influences, the writing process, and formal and thematic aspects of his fiction.)
- Gordon, Lois. Robert Coover: The Universal Fictionmaking Process. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983, 182 p. (Focuses on innovative aspects of Coover's fiction.)
- Gorra, Michael. “The Awakening.” New York Times Book Review (16 February 1997): 10. (Gorra offers a positive assessment of Briar Rose.)
- Hite, Molly. "A Parody of Martyrdom: The Rosenbergs, Cold War Theology, and Robert Coover's The Public Burning." Novel 27, No. 1 (Fall 1993): 85-101. (Assesses Coover's treatment of the cultural context of the Rosenbergs' execution in The Public Burning.)
- Kennedy, Thomas E. Robert Coover: A Study of Short Fiction. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992, 153 p. (A study of Coover's short story collections that includes interviews and a compilation of criticism from additional sources.)
- Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. “One Town's Mad Crush on an Unknowable Woman.” New York Times (1 April 1996): C18. (Lehmann-Haupt evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of John's Wife.)
- Levine, Paul. “Copulating Fiction.” Nation 262, no. 25 (24 June 1996): 32–33. (Levine examines John's Wife, focusing on the intersection of social satire and metafictional game-playing in Coover's fiction.)
- Maltby, Paul. "Robert Coover." In his Dissident Postmodernists: Barthelme, Coover, Pynchon, pp. 82-130. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. (Comments on the subversion of literary-narrative conventions, the use of pattern, and the instrumentalization of meaning in Coover's fiction.)
- Mazurek, Raymond A. "Metafiction, the Historical Novel, and Coover's The Public Burning." Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction XXIII, No. 3 (Spring 1982): 29-42. (Argues that The Public Burning represents a "new kind of historical novel.")
- McCaffery, Larry. "Robert Coover on His Own and Other Fictions: An Interview." Genre XIV, No. 1 (Spring 1981): 45-63. (Interview in which Coover discusses the role of the contemporary writer in America as well as his short fiction, novels, poetry, and plays.)
- Moraru, Christian. “Rewriting Horatio Alger: Robert Coover and the Public Burning of the Public Sphere.” LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 10, no. 3 (1999): 235–54. (Moraru examines intertextual links between the Nixon character in The Public Burning and the Ragged Dick protagonist of Horatio Alger's novels, noting additional connections between Coover's critique of public discourse and that posited by philosopher Jürgen Habermas.)
- Orlov, Paul A. "A Fiction of Politically Fantastic 'Facts': Robert Coover's The Public Burning." In Politics and the Muse: Studies in the Politics of Recent American Literature, edited by Adam J. Sorkin, pp. 111-23. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989. (Examines the relationship between politics and fiction in The Public Burning.)
- Pearce, Richard D. "Robert Coover's Kaleidoscopic Spectacle." In his The Novel in Motion: An Approach to Modern Fiction, pp. 102-17. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1983. (Analyzes Coover's use of rapid motion and spectacle to simultaneously engage and upset his readers.)
- Siegle, Robert B. "Coover's 'The Magic Poker' and the Techniques of Fiction." Essays in Literature VIII, No. 2 (Fall 1981): 203-17. (Assesses Coover's narrative technique in "The Magic Poker.")
- Starrels, Jennifer. “Once upon a Nightmare.” Nation 264, no. 5 (10 February 1997): 35. (Starrels offers a positive assessment of Briar Rose.)
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