The Bear Went Over the Mountain (1996) is a novel by William Kotzwinkle.[1][2][3] The movie rights for the book have been sold to Jim Henson. The book can be read as a fantasy based story but also has elements of satire, particularly in its depiction of the publishing industry.
The book was nominated for the 1997 World Fantasy award[4]
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 and Being There. It also continues a trend well established in Kotzwinkle's work.