Tišma was born in Horgoš,[2] Kanjiža on the present-day border of Serbia and Hungary, to a Serbian father and a Hungarian-speaking Jewish mother.

He completed his elementary and middle school education in Novi Sad before going on to study economy and French language and literature in Budapest during World War II, finally graduating in Germanistics from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology.

Tišma's works were concerned with themes of humanity's search for freedom, and suffering, violence, horror and guilt people encounter along the way.

Along with Czesław Miłosz, Danilo Kiš and György Konrád, his works are sometimes classified as part of "Mitteleuropa" literature—dark and contemplative, yet humanistic and thought-provoking.

In 1993, as a sign of disagreement with Slobodan Milošević's regime and increasing nationalist hysteria in the country, he left Serbia and lived in self-imposed exile in France until 1996.