J. R. R. Tolkien

Last Wednesday, January 3, marked a long 132 years since the birth of John Ronald Reuel (J. R. R.) Tolkien, English author renowned for his epic fantasy novels “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” as well as the lesser known but fans highly cherished “The Silmarillion.”

Apart from that, he was also a poet, a philologist and an academic at Oxford University as well as a linguist especially of old and even extinct now languages such as Old Norse, Old English, Gothic, Old Icelandic and Medieval Welsh.

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in the then Orange Free State, a Boer (Dutch speakers) independent sovereign republic, which nowadays lies within South Africa but was of Prussian descent as his family hailed from Kreuzburg near Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad, Russia).

His surname is actually Middle Low German and breaks down into Tolk-i(e)n that means “descending from Tolk (interpreter/negotiator).” Himself, all the same, mistakenly thought that it derived on German ‘tollkühn’ meaning “foolhardy/daredevil” instead.

He further displayed a particular flair and affection for constructing languages and even accompanying alphabets/writing systems that he employed largely in his fictional world of Arda (Earth), the Middle Earth within, and Eä (universe) such as Quenya, Sindarin and Adûnaic, in his well-known stories.

In fact, the relevant talent ran in the family as he first encountered a constructed (artificial) language in his early teens in Animalic, invented by his cousins Mary and Marjorie Incledon. They then moved on together to construct a more complex tongue in Nevbosh before Tolkien eventually came up with his first very own Naffarin.

Following his death (2 September 1973), his son Christopher took up his substantial notes and non published manuscripts to work up and release a series of works himself highlighted with ‘The Silmarillion’ (September 1977), thus adding further to the family’s hefty legacy in epic fantasy.

Bram Stoker, author of ‘Dracula’

November 8 counted a long 176 years since Bram Stoker, the author of worldwide famous horror novel ‘Dracula’ published in 1897, was born.

Stoker was Irish, born in the affluent suburb of Clontarf in northern Dublin, and his actual first name was Abraham just like his father.

During his lifetime, he was more known as a personal assistant of English stage actor Sir Henry Irving as well as business manager of Lyceum Theatre, Covent Garden in London, which was owned by the latter.

He worked as a theatre critic on account of Irish newspaper ‘Dublin Evening Mail’ in his early days, drawing plenty of attention for his quality reviews, and it was a favourable write-up of Irving’s ‘Hamlet’ at the Theatre Royal in Dublin that led to an invitation to a dinner and their long friendship.

In 1878, Stoker got married to noted belle Florence Balcombe, formerly suited by his acquaintance Oscar Wilde, and together they moved over to London where he took up the post of acting manager before he turned business manager for the Lyceum.

Despite health issues as a child, he came to distinguish himself and competed in several sports including rugby as a student at Trinity College, Dublin, between 1864 and 1870 come to that.

It was apparently a visit to Whitby, North Yorkshire, in 1890 where he got inspired into writing ‘Dracula’ which shaped his seventh and signature published book, coming out on 26 May 1897. The novel was well-received at the time but it was only posthumously that met with immense success.

Also a member of the literary staff of Daily Telegraph, he authored other horror novels such as “The Lady of the Shroud” (1909) and “The Lair of the White Worm” (1911) later in his life.

Quite Intriguingly, Vlad III Dracula the Impaler, the Voivode (warlord) of Wallachia that inspired him into his fictional main character and landmark story, was likely also born on November 8 probably some 416 years apart!

The name Dracula, which Stoker likely stumbled on while on holiday at the Whitby public library in 1880, actually means ‘son of Dracul (or the Dragon),’ a sobriquet (nickname) that his father earned as a member of the Order of the Dragon.