Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould National Park? Mount Gould? Gould Falls? The Gould Archipelago? Glenn Strait? One of these scenarios could come to pass if Stephen Posen can persuade the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada that it's a good idea.
Executor of the Gould estate and Gould's lawyer while the great (and greatly eccentric) classical pianist was alive, Posen made the proposal last week at a ceremony in Toronto where the feds named Gould "a person of national historic significance" and unveiled a plaque to that effect. But as nice as that is, it's not enough for Posen, who says he wants something "extremely significant … a geographical feature … preferably something associated with Gould" during his lifetime (1932-1982).
Posen doesn't know what that feature should be. "Algonquin Park is not going to be renamed for Glenn Gould," he acknowledges, even though he thinks it's the right size, unlike a "small island" in Lake Superior that was offered as a naming possibility a few years ago. Looking at a map, Somerset Island in the Arctic Ocean has potential – it's shaped a bit like a grand piano lid, nobody lives there and Gould was notoriously mad about the North. Damned unfortunate it was named Somerset almost 200 years ago!
Still, if there's one thing this country doesn't lack, it's geography. Something unnamed is bound to be found.