Alice Munro's The Bear Came Over The Mountain

The winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, Alice Munro, is justifiably considered one of the most prolific short story authors of the past century. However, despite her spectacular success as a writer, she is ultimately undeserving of the Nobel Prize. Though her literary legacy satisfies the award criteria of being “the most outstanding work”, it fails to fulfill the requirement of also being “in an ideal direction”(The Nobel Prize in Literature).

By awarding Alice Munro the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy ultimately sacrificed their annual opportunity to advance or reward an author whose work has helped progress society towards “an ideal direction.” Historically, winners have either been chosen for their decisively

Within the span of one-tenth of a typical novel, Munro creates an enrapturing story of an imperfect man and his deteriorating wife. Throughout the story, it is revealed that the husband, Grant, has been serially unfaithful to his wife, Fiona. In particular, it is suggested that Grant’s infidelity stems from his perceived inferiority. However, the beauty of Munro is that she never explicitly states that this is the root of Grant’s adultery, rather she simply allows the reader to interpret the

There is a distinct parallel between the “Russian wolfhounds” and Grant, with the implication being that similar to how Fiona “adopted” the animals, she also “adopted” Grant. Grant received his “first job at the university” due in part to his “father-in-law’s money”. Rather than an equally supportive relationship, Grant and Fiona’s marriage is more akin to that of a devoted owner and their beloved pet. Fiona “groomed and tended” to Grant’s needs, but never validated him as her equal, thus creating an inferior power dynamic, which ultimately led to Grant’s infidelity.

Munro is truly a master of her medium, and she fully utilizes a limited number of pages to take her reader on an emotional journey. Her extraordinary ability to leverage brevity was noted as the justification for her Nobel Prize by Swedish Academy, as she was awarded the prize for being a "master of the contemporary short story" (Nobel Prize