March 27, 1841

“The Big Bear of Arkansas,” possibly based on an encounter experienced by painter and writer Thomas Bangs Thorpe, was first published, in Spirit of the Times. The story is a prime example of Southwestern humor. The story and its relations (notably Charles Noland’s “Pete Whetstone’s Bear Hunt” of 1837), along with the presence of bears in the region, helped earn Arkansas the sobriquet of the “Bear State,” as well as adding to the young state’s image as an untamed wilderness. William Faulkner is said to have considered “The Big Bear of Arkansas” a masterpiece and to have modeled some of his work after it. Historian Bernard DeVoto describes an entire category of writing as the “Big Bear School of Southern Humorists.”