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[1][2] are: During his lifetime Den Uyl won the following prizes in literature: In 2004, the editorial board of the VPRO-Gids established the Bob den Uyl prize for travel stories.
In 2008, Nico Keuning published Bob den Uyl's biography.