They named this bear Pride of Knoxville, which reminds me of something else. A couple years ago I read an article in the Knoxville weekly, The Metro Pulse, stating that the three best books written by native Knoxvillians were "A Death in the Family" by James Agee, published 1969, "Suttree" by Cormac McCarthy, published 1979, and "Sut Lovingood's Yarns of a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool" by George Washington Harris, published 1867. Having read none of them, I went to the library and checked out all three. Here is my three-pronged book report on the literary pride of Knoxville. I'll start with "Sut Lovingood", which, it turns out, is not written in English but in 19th century East Tennessee mountain speak. It's supposed to be a comedy, but I had such difficulty finding the meaning of the words and sentences that I never found the humor. "A Death in the Family" was so excrutiatingly dull that I, who make it a point to finish everything I start, decided that I would not regret abandoning this book halfway through. "Suttree" is a work of true literary merit. It would have been more appropriate to name this bear Suttree. Had the bear been named Suttree, it would have to have been painted in a very different manner: less color, minus the gym-pants and tennis shoes, splattered with mud and/or blood, and situated, I suppose, with a bottle. "That," said Poison Pie, "would have more closely captured the Knoxville I have come to know and love."