Dijkstra was born on a small island in Indonesia but spent his formative years in the Netherlands.
His father had been interned in a Japanese concentration camp and died soon after World War II.
After completing his undergraduate studies, Dijkstra earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley.
[3] He joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego in 1966 and taught there until he retired and became an emeritus professor in 2000.
[3][6][7] The Dijkstras have also contributed to San Diego State University, gifting a collection of rare pulp fiction magazines that provide insight into mid-20th-century popular culture.