Borislav Pekic spent six years in jail as a political prisoner, his only reading material the Bible. In 1965, ten years after his pardon, his first novel, The Time of Miracles, was published and became an overnight sensation. A set of parables based on the miracles of the New Testament, the book rewrites the story of Jesus from the perspective of Judas (who is obsessed with the idea prophecy must be fulfilled) and from that of the individuals upon whom miracles were performed--without their consent and, in most cases, to their eventual dissatisfaction. Filled with humor and poignancy, The Time of Miracles is a trenchant commentary on the power of ideology in one's life, upon what it means to hold beliefs, and upon the nature of faith.

Borislav Pekic is considered one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century, continually attracting the attention of literary scholars and the public at large. His thorough knowledge of the long tradition of European thought from Plato to Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Martin Heidegger, together with the artistic affiliation with his literary peers--Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Aldous Huxley, Samuel Beckett, George Orwell, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn--has greatly helped reintegrate Serbian literature into major European trends.