An entrancing, otherworldly collection of short stories from one of Serbia's most accomplished 20th century writers, new to Penguin Modern Classics. A counter-prophet attempts the impossible to prove his power; a girl sees the hideous fate of her sister and father in a mirror bought from a gypsy; the death of a prostitute causes an unanticipated uprising; and the lives of every ordinary person since 1789 are brought to life in the almighty Encyclopaedia of the Dead. In this wide-ranging collection of stories about humanity, society and relationships, Kiš plays with the distinction between fact and fiction, horro and comedy, drawing on key influences such as James Joyce and Franz Kafka. This was Kiš's final work, published in Serbo-Croatian in 1983.