Lord Grizzly

Yes, the novel is a fictionalized account of the real American frontiersman Hugh Glass. It details his legendary survival journey in 1823 after being severely mauled by a grizzly bear. Hugh Glass's crawl across hundreds of miles of wilderness is a famous piece of Western folklore.

The book was written by the Western author Frederick Manfred and published in 1954. It is widely considered his most famous work and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1955. Manfred originally published it under the pen name Feike Feikema.

Both the 1954 novel "Lord Grizzly" and the 2015 film "The Revenant" are adaptations of the same historical survival story of Hugh Glass. Manfred's book focuses deeply on the internal psychology and spiritual journey of the frontiersman after the 1823 bear mauling. While the film leans heavily into cinematic realism, the novel is highly introspective.

In the novel and historical record, Glass was left for dead by two men, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger, after the bear attack. They were tasked with staying with him until he died so they could provide a proper burial. However, Glass miraculously survived the 1823 attack and crawled hundreds of miles seeking revenge.