A university professor, theorist of literature, essayist and critic, politician; in 1990 he became a Minister of Education, Culture, Tehnical Culture and Sports and in 1992 a member of the House of Representatives of the Croatian Parliament, president of the Education, Science and Culture Committee and, simoultaneously, a vice president of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; president of the Croatian State Parliament from 1995 to 1999 and then, for two months, a temporary president of the Republic of Croatia; in 2000 he became a vice president of the Croatian Parliament. He retired in 2004.

Vlatko Pavletic was born on the 2nd of December 1930 in Zagreb, where he also died on the 19th of September 2007. He finished elementary school (1937-1941) and high school (1941-1949) in Zagreb. In 1955 he acquired a university degree in Croatian language and literature at the Faculty of Philosopy in Zagreb and in 1975 a title of doctor, with a thesis Stablo Ujevićeve poezije . He worked as an editor in «Vjesnik», a director of drama in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (1958-1960), a chief editor of the Matica hrvatska editions (1965-1972). In the period from 1949 to 1971 he continually edited cultural columns of «Vjesnik», «Vjesnik u srijedu», «Telegram» and magazines «Izvor», «Krugovi», «Republika», «Literatura» and «Kritika».
In 1952, he published an essayistic manifesto in the magazine «Krugovi», under the title «Neka bude zivost» («Let there be liveliness»), which was quoted countless times, as well as the title of his article published in 1952 - «Put zvan tolerancija» («The Way Called Tolerance»).

In 1960 he became a lecturer, and then a professor of literature at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, where he lectured in literature of Yugoslavian peoples, crucial works of world literature and semiotics of literature.
In the meantime he spent one year in Paris in a study visit and before that three months in Italy. The results of these visits were articles, essays, studies and books Baudelaireovi cvjetovi zla (Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil) and Djelo u zbilji (The Work in Reality).
He was one of the editors of the library «Pet stoljeća hrvatske književnosti» («Five Centuries of Croatian Literature»), and the founder and editor of the integral library of poetry «Arion», with autentic voices of poets recorded on gramophone records, the library of fundamental cultural works «Prometej» and the «Zlatna knjiga» series of the Publishing house of Matica hrvatska, where, in the period from 1964 to 1972, he also edited several hundred books of Croatian and foreign writers. He is the chief editor of fundamental libraries «Stoljeća hrvatske književnosti» («Centuries of Croatian Literature») and «Vrhovi svjetske književnosti» («Peaks of World Literature»). He composed critical panoramas, overviews and anthologies: «Hrvatska moderna», Sarajevo, 1960; «Život pod reflektorima» (an anthology of modern Croatian drama), Zagreb, 1961; «Hrvatski pjesnici između dva svjetska rata», Beograd, 1963; «Panorama hrvatske književnosti XX. stoljeća», Zagreb, 1965; «Zlatna knjiga hrvatskoga pjesništva», Zagreb, 1970, 1971 and 1990.
He founded and for a long period edited the library «Ključ za književno djelo» («The Key for a Literary Work») in «Školska knjiga».

In 1951 he became a member of the Croatian Writers' Society and also acted as the secretary of the Society. He is a member of Matica hrvatska and PEN-Club, and since 1987 a member of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, where he acted as a vice president for six years, and before that three years as a secretary of the Department of Literature. In 1997 the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences awarded him with the honorary diploma. Some of his texts were translated into Polish, Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, English and French.
>From 1965 to 1967, he was a member of the Gradski komitet SK Zagreb (City Committee of the Communist Union of Zagreb), but was expelled from the Committee and the Communist Party as a Croatian patriot, after the publication of the Declaration on Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Language (Deklaracija o položaju i nazivu hrvatskog književnog jezika), of which he was one of the authors.
In 1972 he was arrested, along with the group of prominent figures of Matica hrvatska (Tuđman, Đodan, Veselica, Gotovac, and others), and then sentenced to 18 months of severe jail for being a Croatian patriot and for «attempting to overthrow and change the organization of the state».
As a memento to that ill-stared event, he and his colleges, co-fighters and co-prisoners founded the «11. siječnja 1972» association («January 11th 1972»), of which he was the first president, elected for the period of four years.

Since 1990, he has performed a number of political and cultural-political duties; among other things, he was the artistic director of «Jadran film» and the vice president of the Telecommunications Council. From 1995 to 2000 he was a member of the Presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union.
He was rewarded for his longstanding work as a public, cultural and political figure. He is a carrier of numerous highest government decorations, and in 2003 he was rewarded with the «Zlatni grb» reward, founded by the Croatian Parliament, for his merits in development of parliamentary democracy and tolerance. He was also awarded a posthumous medal of Matica hrvatska, Count Janko Drašković, in 2008.


WORKS: Zvekir u ruci (poems, with N. Milićevićem i S. Novakom ), Zagreb, 1953; Sudbina automata (an essay), Zagreb, 1955; Kako su stvarali književnici (a study), Zagreb, 1956, 1959; Hrvatski književni kritičari I , II (a critique), Zagreb, 1958; Trenutak sadašnjosti (in Croatian and French), Zagreb, 1960; Ivan Cankar (a study), Skopje, 1961; Analiza bez koje se ne može (Cro.), Zagreb, 1961; Drame Ive Vojnovića (a study), Zagreb, 1962; Goran njim samim (a monography), Beograd, 1963; Tin Ujević (a study), Beograd, 1966; Protivljenja (es. and pol.) 1971; Djelo u zbilji (stu.), Zagreb, 1971; Ujević u raju svoga pakla (mon. stu.), Zagreb, 1978; Obuzdani gnjev (stu.), Zagreb, 1978; Eseji i kritike, Zagreb, 1982; Svjedok Apokalipse (a study on Drago Ivanišević), Zagreb, 1983; Ključ za modernu poeziju (es.), Zagreb, 1986; Klopka za naraštaje (a study on poetry of S. Mihalić), Zagreb, 1987; Muški život (a hermeneutical reading of Matko Peić), Zagreb, 1987; Zagonetka bez odgonetke (es.), Zagreb, 1987; Kako čitati poeziju (a manual), Zagreb, 1987; O poeziji Veselka Koromana i razgovor s njim o poeziji, Sarajevo, 1987; Poetizacija životnih običnosti, Zagreb, 1991; Baudelaireovi cvjetovi zla (mon. stud.), Zagreb, 1993; Kako razumjeti poeziju (a manual), Zagreb, 1995; Tajna radne sobe (conversations with writers), Zagreb, 1995; Misaono osjećanje mjesta (conversations with writers), 1995; Kritički medaljoni, Zagreb, 1996; Kurlanski bijesni čvor: Trajni književni domet Mirka Božića (Matica Hrvatska, 2006); Prisjećanja o sebi i drugima (Epifanija, 2006); Tuđmanova doktrina i drugi članci (Epifanija 2007.); Poetika korelacija (Školska knjiga 2007.); Soba-roba-osoba (Naklada Pavičić, 2008.);Trenutak vječnosti (Školska knjiga, 2008.);Umijećem do umjetnosti (Školska knjiga, 2009.)

The Library of Congress in Washington (USA) momentarily contains more then 30 Pavletic's works. (www.loc.gov).