Boudewijn Büch (1948–2002)

De kleine blonde dood is a touching novel about fatherhood. The author, Boudewijn Büch appears as a character in the novel, which seems autobiographical, although reality and the plot are divergent.

The plot consists of two story lines. The first relates of the relationship between Boudewijn and his father, Rainer Büch. The father is portrayed in an extreme and exaggerated fashion, schizophrenic and quite positively mad. In the father's mind, World War II never ended, and the Germans are show more the eternal enemy. Nonetheless, father and son enjoy a special, truly loving relationship. Despite all and everything, Rainer seems to be a good father to Boudewijn.

In the second story line, Boudewijn is shown to be a good father to his son, Micky. His life-style seems compatible with good fathership. Unfortunately, Micky dies during a weekend Boudewijn is not there, and the child stays with his alcoholic ex-wife. This casts a shadow, and the question arises whether Boudewijn neglected or is to blame for the boy's death. show less

In 1985 Boudewijn Büch published his novel De kleine blonde dood. It is a touching novel about fatherhood. The author, Boudewijn Büch appears as a character in the novel, which seems autobiographical, although reality and the plot are divergent.

The plot consists of two story lines. The first relates of the relationship between Boudewijn and his father, Rainer Büch. The father is portrayed in an extreme and exaggerated fashion, schizophrenic and quite positively mad. In the father's mind, show more World War II never ended, and the Germans are the eternal enemy. Nonetheless, father and son enjoy a special, truly loving relationship. Despite all and everything, Rainer seems to be a good father to Boudewijn.

In the second story line, Boudewijn is shown to be a good father to his son, Micky. His life-style seems compatible with good fathership. Unfortunately, Micky dies during a weekend Boudewijn is not there, and the child stays with his alcoholic ex-wife. This casts a shadow, and the question arises whether Boudewijn neglected or is to blame for the boy's death.

Een kleine blonde dood. De oerversie is considered the source of that novel. During the years when Boudewijn Büch started his career as a writer, he was fascinated by fatherhood, young children and the death of such young children. This is also evident in his first collection of poetry, Dood kind, published in 1982. Een kleine blonde dood. De oerversie is considered the original material for these later works. It consists of short interlinked stories, which were first published in Propria Cures a satirical student newspaper. These short prose pieces were collected and published by Guus Bauer a Dutch literary figure, a writer himself, who acted as Büch's publisher during his early years, viz. the 1970s en 80s.

Een kleine blonde dood. De oerversie is a very fresh, very readable small book of about 100 pages. It provides background to Büch's later works. The afterword by Guus Bauer gives some biographical details about Büch's early career.

Een kleine blonde dood. De oerversie also first came out in book form in 1982. It is essential reading to the understanding of Büch's novels and novellas. show less

A strong, short novel about school and growing up.

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