De slag om de Blauwbrug ("Battle at the Blue Bridge") is the prologue to De tandeloze tijd and is one of the most controversial books in contemporary Dutch literature. The novel focuses on the events surrounding the coronation of Queen Beatrix on April 30, 1980. The whole event is seen through the eyes of a social reject and ex-convict who is walking in the streets of Amsterdam at that particular day. He witnesses violent clashes between police and anti-monarchist anarchist squatters who provoke riots during the coronation, protesting against poor housing conditions and using the occasion to tackle the institution of monarchy and the idea of government authority in general. The novel's main character is only observing the brutal clashes without participating or taking sides. The riots cause flashbacks to the important political events into his memory: from the Vietnam war to the R.A.F. terrorist attacks in the 70s.
Read more about this topic: A. F. Th. Van Der Heijden
Famous quotes containing the word slag:
“These foliaceous heaps lie along the bank like the slag of a furnace, showing that Nature is “in full blast” within.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)