[1] His fragile health during his youth and its impact on his life (solitude), had an effect on his first literary work.

[2] He started his career as a civil servant and worked for the journal Volkskrant and the literary magazine Dietsche Warande en Belfort.

Later he made the statement that he wrote as a therapy, such as with Zelfportret met gesloten ogen (E: Self-portrait with closed eyes) (1973) and Uit het raam springen moet als nutteloos worden beschouwd (E: Jumping out of the window must be considered useless) (1983), which was made into a movie Springen.

In Schrijven of schieten (E: Writing or shooting) (1969) and Geen daden maar woorden (E: No deeds but words) (1970), he published several interviews with fellow writers.

He contributed to the screenplays of the movies De Witte van Sichem (1980) after Ernest Claes and Lijmen/Het Been (2000) after Willem Elsschot.