At the University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences he earned a degree in philosophy and Yugoslav studies in 1959.
At the same faculty he received his PhD in 1964 with a thesis on Fran Galović.
In the period of 1987-1990 he also served as SR Croatia's minister of education and culture.
Solar's scholarly work is primarily concerned with literary theory, especially the issues of poetics and the relationship between literary theory and philosophy.
He also published works on the methodology of literary studies, literature analysis and universal elements of cultural history such as myths.