of culture in Spain, Milan Dedinac published the poem Jedan čovek na prozoru (A Man on the Window), with an introduction by Matić and Koča. In 1938, Matić was one of the leading members of the Association of Scientists, Writers and Artists headed by Branislav Nušić and law professor Đorđe Tasić. Matić held a speech at Nušić's funeral in early 1938 in front of the writers' section. That same year, he was again dismissed from his new position of professor at the newly formed Girls' Gymnasium in Belgrade. He was again sent into early retirement, being found guilty of spreading communist propaganda. In 1939, Matić translated Émile Zola's novels Germinal and Son Excellence Eugène Rougon. In 1940, Geca Kon published Matić and Vučo's finished novel, now titled Gluho doba (The Deaf Times). Its visual elements were provided by Matić's friend and later architect and owner of Belgrade's Hotel Majestic, Oliver Minić. The novel tried to portray everyday Serbian life during the 1903 May Coup. That same year, Matić and Eli Finci translated Roger Martin du Gard's first novel in his multi-volume The Thibaults, Le cahier gris (The Grey Notebook). World War II Matić fled from Belgrade following the April War to stay with his friends, the Minić family, in Prijepolje. He barely escaped the Ustaše attack on Prijepolje and made it to Belgrade before September 1941. He was arrested in December along with Aleksandar Vučo and interred at the Banjica concentration camp. Matić was released in February 1942, but remained under police surveillance until the 1944 Allied bombing of Belgrade when travel became easier. He left for Užice in April 1944, where he stayed at Zabučje, a nearby hill. He returned to Belgrade in August 1944, and was staying at Oliver Minić's Hotel Majestic during the Belgrade Offensive. During the war, Matić tried to make contact with the Yugoslav Partisans in 1942, but was intercepted by Chetnik forces en route to the Lipovica forest. Post-war career Soon after the end of the war, Matić started working in Radio Belgrade in 1946. There, he edited the news about new plays, books and exhibitions. During that time, he translated Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental Education. On 1 January 1949, Matić became dean of the newly formed Academy of Performing Arts. There, he taught contemporary literature during the following decade. He mentored young writers such as Vasko Popa and Miodrag Pavlović, who he held in