Hugo Brandt Corstius (29 August 1935 – 28 February 2014) was a Dutch author, known for his achievements in both literature and science. In 1970, he was awarded a PhD on the subject of

computational linguistics Computational linguistics is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, comput ...

. He was employed at the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam. However, to the general public he is mostly known for his writing, in particular as a columnist for Vrij Nederland and

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

and as linguist and literary critic for Vrij Nederland, de Volkskrant, and

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

Pseudonyms

Hugo Brandt Corstius wrote under over sixty different pseudonyms, allonyms and aliases. He claimed each of them to be a component of his character. In Vrij Nederland he used the pseudonym Piet Grijs and between 1979 and 1986 in de Volkskrant he used the pseudonym Stoker. His other pseudonyms include Battus (in

and Vrij Nederland), Raoul Chapkis, Victor Baarn, Dolf Cohen, Maaike Helder, Peter Malenkov and Talisman. The Battus name was reserved for writing on linguistics and language play, in columns, articles and books. Many forms of word play (

palindrome A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

s, the longest attested word in Dutch, ''e''-less Dutch, etc. etc.) were bundled in the volume ''

Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde ''Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde'' (written in 1981) is a book dedicated to peculiarities of the Dutch language. It was written by "Battus", one of many pseudonyms used by Hugo Brandt Corstius. The title means "Upperlandic Language and Linguisti ...

'', ("Upperlandic linguistics", where "Upperlandic" is word play on " Netherlandic"), and twenty years later a sequel '' Opperlans!'' (deliberate misspelling). Both books are concerned with the form of Dutch words with little regard to meaning. He also wrote ''De Encyclopedie'', a book parodying

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

s, containing about 300 pages numbered 1 through 40000 or thereabouts, with many puns, references to non-existent pages and other jokes.

Prizes

* 1966 -

Anne Frank Prize The Anne Frank Prize was a literary award that was given out in the Netherlands in the years 1957 to 1966 by The Netherlands-America Foundation. The prize was established by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who had authored a play, ''The Dia ...

for ''Ik sta op mijn hoofd'' * 1978 - Cestoda-prijs * 1978 -

Burgemeester van Grunsven-prijs Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chie ...

for his entire works * 1985 - Busken Huetprijs for ''Rekenen op taal'' * 1987 -

P. C. Hooft Award The P.C. Hooft Award (in Dutch: P.C. Hooft-prijs), inaugurated in 1948, is a Dutch-language literary lifetime-achievement award named after 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. The award is made annually. Background E ...

for his entire works

Personal life

His daughter Aaf is a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

, his daughter Merel is a Montessori teacher and graduate student in Boston, and his son Jelle is also an author, and was a correspondent in Russia. Brandt Corstius died in Amsterdam after a long illness.

Bibliography

* 1966 - ''De reizen van Pater Key'' (under pseudonym Raoul Chapkis) * 1966 - ''Zes dagen onbedachtzaamheid kan maken dat men eeuwig schreit'' (pseud. Raoul Chapkis) * 1966 - ''Ik sta op mijn hoofd'' (pseud. Raoul Chapkis) * 1970 - ''Exercises in Computational Linguistics'' (PhD thesis) * 1970 - ''Grijsboek, of de nagelaten bekentenissen van Raoul Chapkis'' * 1971 - ''Zinnig tuig'' * 1972 - ''Blijf met je fikken van de luizepoten af!'' * 1974 - ''Algebraïsche taalkunde'' * 1975 - ''A is een letter'' * 1975 - ''Piet Grijs is gek'' * 1978 - ''Computer-taalkunde'' * 1978 - ''Televisie, psychiaters, computers en andere griezelverhalen'' * 1978 - ''De encyclopedie'' (pseud. Battus) * 1981 - ''...honderd. Ik kom!'' * 1981 - ''

'' * 1988 - ''Denk na'' * 1991 - ''Symmys'' (SYMMYƧ) (pseud. Battus) * 1995 - ''De hoofdredacteur'' * 1995 - ''Water en vuur'' * 1999 - ''Het bewustzijn''

References

External links

Hugo Brandt Corstius: briljant gelijkhebber, hartstochtelijk hater (Bio)
- Volkskrant {{DEFAULTSORT:Brandt Corstius, Hugo 1935 births 2014 deaths People from Eindhoven 20th-century Dutch scientists Linguists from the Netherlands Dutch computer scientists Dutch journalists P. C. Hooft Award winners Academic staff of Tilburg University