Mysterious Mayville Poet Phallus
In Island Park in Mayville there is an obelisk that has stood for as long as I can remember. These things are so ubiquitous in western culture that future civilizations may speculate on their religious significance. So really, I never gave it a second thought.
I never knew what this thing was until my researches discovered that it was dedicated during a festive ceremony during the summer of 1915 or 16. (I should have written something down).
Anyway, I was musing on how cultural heroes are sometime forgotten in the sands of time or something like that. This event has grown in my mind and it struck me that Mayville would have a day and reserve a stone phallus for a writer that I had never heard of. For that matter, probably most anyone living had heard of.
The day was called Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Day. Speakers came from Fargo, bands played and during his day, a stone obelisk was dedicated. You don't just sit on your hands every day and have someone dedicate an obelisk to you. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1903. He was a celebrated writer and politician among Norwegians of the day and is virtually unknown today in this country. Many of his works are in the public domain and available online. Here is an entry about him from the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittannica: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Bjornstjerne_Bjornson
I never knew what this thing was until my researches discovered that it was dedicated during a festive ceremony during the summer of 1915 or 16. (I should have written something down).
Anyway, I was musing on how cultural heroes are sometime forgotten in the sands of time or something like that. This event has grown in my mind and it struck me that Mayville would have a day and reserve a stone phallus for a writer that I had never heard of. For that matter, probably most anyone living had heard of.
The day was called Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Day. Speakers came from Fargo, bands played and during his day, a stone obelisk was dedicated. You don't just sit on your hands every day and have someone dedicate an obelisk to you. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1903. He was a celebrated writer and politician among Norwegians of the day and is virtually unknown today in this country. Many of his works are in the public domain and available online. Here is an entry about him from the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittannica: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Bjornstjerne_Bjornson
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