The Greatest Tragedy Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
12 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
15 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
16 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
18 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1929 American English
23 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 1857 French French
50 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
66 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
69 Native Son Richard Wright 1940 American English
76 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
77 For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway 1940 American English
79 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
94 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
97 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
99 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford 1915 British English
105 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry 1947 British English
106 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
108 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 1928 German German
111 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
113 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
115 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
116 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
121 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
126 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
127 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957 Russian Russian
130 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
134 First Folio William Shakespeare 1623 British English
143 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
162 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
163 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
169 Light in August William Faulkner 1932 American English
174 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
177 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
180 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
186 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
212 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
226 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
227 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
234 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
242 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
252 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
268 Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles -401 Greek Ancient greek
271 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
280 King Lear William Shakespeare 1608 British English
282 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
295 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
299 Man's Fate Andre Malraux 1933 French French
301 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
311 The Sorrows of Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 German German
317 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
319 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
321 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
336 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
337 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
338 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
339 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
348 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
368 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
370 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
373 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Victor Hugo 1831 French French
376 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
378 Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948 South African English
392 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
414 The Mill on the Floss George Eliot 1860 British English
422 Wings of the Dove Henry James 1902 American English
433 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
434 The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
438 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
439 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
440 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
446 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
453 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
458 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
459 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
461 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
474 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
486 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
493 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
497 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
512 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
516 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
541 The Radetzky March Joseph Roth 1932 Austrian German
546 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
561 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
575 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
583 Dream of the Red Chamber Cao Xueqin 1754 Chinese Chinese
585 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
587 Eugenie Grandet Honoré de Balzac 1833 French French
591 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
594 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
595 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
605 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
609 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
611 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970 American English
612 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
618 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
620 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
627 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
628 A Death in the Family James Agee 1957 American English
630 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
637 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
641 Celestina Or The Tragic-Comedy Of Calisto And Melibea Fernando de Rojas 1499 Spanish Spanish
642 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
645 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
650 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 1597 British English
671 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
675 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
690 Fateless or Fatelessness Imre Kertész 1975 Hungarian Hungarian
696 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
700 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
702 Phèdre Jean Racine 1677 French French
703 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
703 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
703 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
739 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
746 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
751 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
752 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
763 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Giorgio Bassani 1962 Italian Italian
765 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English