The Bear Went Over the Mountain (1996) is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by William Kotzwinkle

William Kotzwinkle

William Kotzwinkle is an American novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for Doctor Rat in 1977, and has also won the National Magazine Award for fiction. Kotzwinkle wrote the novelization of the...

. The movie rights for the book have been sold to Jim Henson

Jim Henson

James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

. The book can be read as a fantasy based story but also has elements of satire

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

, particularly in its depiction of the publishing industry.

The book was nominated for the 1997 World Fantasy award

Plot introduction

Arthur Bramhall is known by his colleagues to be a poorly performing teacher of English with little talent as a writer. But Bramhall isolates himself in a forest cabin and manages to write a great novel; he goes off to buy champagne in celebration. Whilst he is away, a bear digs up his manuscript. The bear travels to New York, where he is accepted as a talented author and desirable party guest, while Bramhall's increasing animal-like desperation leads to him being shunned by his former friends. In its use of humour and a character of very limited abilities—the bear—to comment on aspects of modern life, the book resembles stories like Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump (novel)

Forrest Gump is a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The title character experiences adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships to thinking about his childhood love. The Vietnam War and college football are all part of the story. Throughout his life, Gump views the world simply...

and Being There

Being There

Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...

. It also continues a trend well established in Kotzwinkle's work.

External links

• Interview with Kotzwinkle about the book.