Career
His writing style is mostly ironic and observant. The most prominent theme in his work is the purposelessness and absurdity of existence. His earlier work consists mostly of absurd stories.
In his later work, the focus of his writing shifted to more autobiographic stories, mostly concerned with travels (by bicycle) in neighbouring countries of The Netherlands.
Recurring elements in his work are:
His experiences as a child during World World War II
World War I
His love for bicycle racing
His alcohol use
The city of Rotterdam
In 1965, the “Prozaprijs” conferred by the city of Amsterdam for Vogels Kijken
In 1968, the “Anna Blaman-prijs” for Een zachte fluittoon
In 1976, the “Multatuli-prijs” for Gods wegen zijn duister en zelden aangenaam
In 2004, the editorial board of the VPRO-Gids established the Bob den Uyl prize for travel stories. Several collected stories have been posthumously published.
In 2008, Nico Keuning published Bob den Uyl"s biography.