An eminent Serbian intellectual, translator, ethnologist, anthropologist, human rights activist and promoter of civil society. He studied at the Modern Languages Department of Belgrade University, has translated French literature, including Roland Barthes, Georges Bataille, Georges Poulet and Claude Lévi-Strauss and received a doctoral degree in ethnology at the same university. He actively opposed the war, co-founded the Society of Independent Intellectuals, the Belgrade Circle and the independent Writers’ Forum. He is one of the creators of the independent academic network by the Open Society Foundation and now runs a private publishing house, Biblioteka XX vek, based on a series which he initiated (1971) and edited in state-owned publishing houses. He has been engaged in exploding myths which incite nationalism and is investigating the role of the widely conceived culture in creating these myths. His publications include Književnost na groblju (1983), Divjla knijževnost (1983, 2000), Bordel ratnika (1993, 1994, 2000, 2008), Politika simbola, 1997. Laureate of the Herder Prize, Knight of the French Legion d’Honeur and holder of an Honorary Doctorship from Warsaw University.