[nb 1] During World War II in Yugoslavia he briefly worked as a military messenger for the Partisans, and after the war he graduated from the Mostar Gymnasium and then went on to study French language and literature, first at the University of Sarajevo and then at the University of Zagreb, where he eventually graduated from.

[3] After returning to Yugoslavia he worked as a university professor at his alma mater in Zagreb, where he taught French literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences until 1991.

Following the breaking out of the Croatian War of Independence, he moved abroad again and taught Slavic literature at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle from 1991 to 1994.

[3] In 1994 he moved on to the Sapienza University of Rome,[4] where he taught Croatian and Serbian literatures and language until his retirement at the age of 75 in 2007.

[3] He was also made an honorary vice-president of the worldwide association of writers PEN International, and was a recipient of state decorations awarded by France, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy.