He then held the chair in German literature at the University of Frankfurt until 1984 and from 1985 to 1990 was literary editor for television at Hessischer Rundfunk.
[2] During this time he also held visiting professorships at several American universities (Los Angeles, San Diego, and St. Louis).
[3] In 1990 he moved from Hessischer Rundfunk to Südwestfunk, which later became Südwestrundfunk, where he initially headed the editorial board of SWR Bestenliste, its monthly coverage of the best new books, and later the series Literatur im Foyer (now lesenswert) in Mainz, which also airs on 3sat.
He also makes regular appearances on the radio program Streitfall, discussing new non-fiction books with Peter Kemper, an editor at the hr2 culture channel of Hessischer Rundfunk, Franziska Augstein, and Micha Brumlik in the Frankfurt Literaturhaus.
He writes mainly for Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, and Frankfurter Rundschau and for Literaturen and Focus magazines.