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
13 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
14 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
22 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 1857 French French
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
64 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
72 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
74 Native Son Richard Wright 1940 American English
77 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
82 For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway 1940 American English
83 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
97 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
98 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry 1947 British English
99 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
100 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 1928 German German
101 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford 1915 British English
102 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
113 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
124 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
125 First Folio William Shakespeare 1623 British English
127 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957 Russian Russian
130 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
132 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
137 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
140 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
144 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
160 Light in August William Faulkner 1932 American English
163 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
171 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
172 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
173 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
191 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
196 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
205 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
217 King Lear William Shakespeare 1608 British English
219 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
234 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
242 Oedipus at Colonus Sophocles -401 Greek Ancient greek
245 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
247 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
249 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
254 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
263 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
277 Man's Fate Andre Malraux 1933 French French
286 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
300 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
317 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
320 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
322 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
335 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
343 The Sorrows of Young Werther Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 German German
369 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
374 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Victor Hugo 1831 French French
375 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
376 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
379 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
389 The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
392 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
397 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
400 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
402 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
406 Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison 1992 American English
415 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
422 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
423 Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948 South African English
428 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
430 The Mill on the Floss George Eliot 1860 British English
433 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
441 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
463 Wings of the Dove Henry James 1902 American English
467 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
481 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
506 Celestina Or The Tragic-Comedy Of Calisto And Melibea Fernando de Rojas 1499 Spanish Spanish
513 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
518 Death in Venice Thomas Mann 1912 German German
525 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
533 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
543 The Radetzky March Joseph Roth 1932 Austrian German
546 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
550 A Death in the Family James Agee 1957 American English
556 Dream of the Red Chamber Cao Xueqin 1754 Chinese Chinese
559 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
561 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
565 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
587 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
593 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
596 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
597 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
598 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
600 La Regenta Clarín 1884 Spanish Spanish
612 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
616 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
617 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
618 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
633 Arrow of God Chinua Achebe 1964 Nigerian English
640 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
640 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
640 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
656 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
661 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
662 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
666 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English
678 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 1597 British English
689 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
695 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
720 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
726 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970 American English
729 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Giorgio Bassani 1962 Italian Italian
736 Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós 1887 Spanish Spanish
740 The Christmas Oratorio Göran Tunström 1983 Swedish Swedish
742 Fateless or Fatelessness Imre Kertész 1975 Hungarian Hungarian
747 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
759 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
760 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
769 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
775 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
783 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
796 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek