Hugo Brandt Corstius facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hugo Brandt Corstius
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Hugo Brandt Corstius in 2010
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| Born | 29 August 1935 |
| Died | 28 February 2014 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Occupation | Linguist Writer Scientist |
| Known for | Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde |
Hugo Brandt Corstius (born August 29, 1935 – died February 28, 2014) was a famous Dutch writer and scientist. He was known for his amazing work in both literature (writing) and science.
In 1970, he earned a special degree called a PhD. His studies were about computational linguistics, which means using computers to understand language. He worked at the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam. But most people knew him best for his writing. He wrote columns for newspapers like Vrij Nederland and de Volkskrant. He was also a language expert and a book critic for other newspapers.
Hugo's Many Secret Names
Hugo Brandt Corstius was very creative. He wrote using more than sixty different secret names, also called pseudonyms. He said each of these names showed a different part of his personality.
For example, in the newspaper Vrij Nederland, he often used the name Piet Grijs. In de Volkskrant, he wrote as Stoker between 1979 and 1986. Some of his other secret names included Battus, Raoul Chapkis, Victor Baarn, Dolf Cohen, Maaike Helder, Peter Malenkov, and Talisman.
The name Battus was special. He used it for writing about linguistics, which is the study of language. He also used it for fun word games. He collected many word puzzles, like palindromes (words that read the same forwards and backwards). These were put into a book called Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde. This title is a clever wordplay on "Netherlandic" (Dutch). Twenty years later, he wrote a follow-up book called Opperlans!. Both books focused on the shapes and sounds of Dutch words, often without worrying about their meaning. He also wrote De Encyclopedie, a funny book that made fun of real encyclopedias. It had many jokes and wordplays.
Awards and Prizes
Hugo Brandt Corstius won several important awards for his work:
- 1966 - The Anne Frank Prize for his book Ik sta op mijn hoofd.
- 1978 - The Cestoda-prijs.
- 1978 - The Burgemeester van Grunsven-prijs for all his writings.
- 1985 - The Busken Huetprijs for his book Rekenen op taal.
- 1987 - The P. C. Hooft Award, which is a very important Dutch literary prize.
His Family Life
Hugo Brandt Corstius had three children. His daughter Aaf is also a writer who writes columns for newspapers. His daughter Merel became a Montessori teacher. His son Jelle is also an author. Jelle even worked as a correspondent in Russia, reporting news from there.
Hugo Brandt Corstius passed away in Amsterdam in 2014 after being ill for some time.
