Robert Coover, the author who became a guiding light of American postmodernist fiction with novels including The Public Burning and Gerald's Party, has died at 92, the New York Times reports.

Coover, an Iowa native, was educated at Indiana University and the University of Chicago, and he taught for more than 30 years at Brown University.

He made his literary debut in 1966 with The Origin of the Brunists, a novel about a cult that considers the sole survivor of a mine disaster as its prophet. He followed that up two years later with The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.

In 1977, he published The Public Burning, a satire of McCarthyism that featured Richard Nixon as the primary narrator. More than a dozen more novels followed, including Gerald’s Party, John’s Wife, Briar Rose, Ghost Town, and Huck Out West. His most recent book, Open House, was published last year.

Coover’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, author Amber Sparks wrote, “Oh man, RIP Robert Coover—I’ll love his stories forever, they helped me realize what was even possible in fiction.”

And writer Matt Bell posted, “I’m sorry to hear of Robert Coover’s passing. A great writer whose influence is everywhere in many of my favorites. When I worked in publishing, I once had to read a 1000-page manuscript of his in less than 48 hours, and afterward my brain felt permanently altered. Maybe it was.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.