The Origin of the Brunists (Coover, Robert)
Originally published in 1966, The Origin of the Brunists was a sensational debut that won the William Faulkner Foundation Award for Best First Novel and instantly established Robert Coover's fictional mastery. Set in a small mid-American town, it begins with a coal-mine explosion that claims ninety-seven lives. Giovanni Bruno--hawk-faced, silent, some say deranged--is the only survivor. A lapsed Catholic given to peculiar visions, Bruno is adopted as a prophet by a group of secretive small-town mystics. "Exposed" by the town newspaper editor, the Brunist cult gains international notoriety and its ranks swell. As its members gather on the Mount of Redemption--above the site of the mine disaster--to await the apocalypse, and the fabric of the community begins to unravel, Robert Coover lays bare the madness of religious frenzy and the sometime greater madness of "normal" citizens. The Origin of the Brunists is vintage Coover-fearless, incisive, and brilliantly executed."A novel of intensity and conviction...[Coover] may become heir to Dreiser or Lewis.... He has splendid talent."--The New York Times Book Review"A breathtaking masterpiece on any level you approach it."--Sol Yurick, author of An Island Death"[The Origin of the Brunists] delivers the goods; it explodes on the reader...says what it has to say with rudeness, vigor, poetry and a headlong narrative momentum."--The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)Robert Coover has won fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Rea Award for the short story, and the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, among other honors. He has taught at Bard College, the University of Iowa, Princeton University and currently teaches electronic and experimental writing at Brown University.