The Greatest Allegorical Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
584 Poet in New York Federico García Lorca 1940 Spanish Spanish
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
593 Complete Poems of Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi 1831 Italian Italian
594 Growth of the Soil Knut Hamsun 1917 Norwegian Norwegian
603 Barabbas Par Lagerkvist 1950 Swedish Swedish
609 The Opposing Shore Julien Gracq 1951 French French
612 Green Henry Gottfried Keller 1855 Swiss German
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
631 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder 1927 American English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
647 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
648 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 1990 American English
650 The Flanders Road Claude Simon 1960 French French
654 The Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Dutch Latin
667 The Book of Job Unknown -600 Israeli Hebrew
677 Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees 1926 British English
684 The Adventures Of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 Italian Italian
694 La Fontaine's Fables Jean de La Fontaine 1668 French French
697 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
702 Vathek William Beckford 1786 British French
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
707 Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson 1830 British English
725 The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier 1949 Cuban Spanish
728 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
748 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
757 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
768 A Glastonbury Romance John Cowper Powys 1932 British English
776 War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936 Czech Czech
781 Simplicius Simplicissimus Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1668 German German
796 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
797 The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Jan Potocki 1805 Polish French
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
807 The Book of the City of Ladies Christine De Pizan 1405 French French
809 Poems by Machado Antonio Machado 1907 Spanish Spanish
816 The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke 1759 British English
826 Voss Patrick White 1957 Australian English
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
843 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
850 The Revolt of the Masses José Ortega y Gasset 1930 Spanish Spanish
860 The Solitudes Luis de Góngora 1613 Spanish Spanish
864 Reynard the Fox Unknown 1479 Multiple Middle dutch
866 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
881 Utopia Thomas More 1516 British Latin
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
883 Thaïs Anatole France 1890 French French
887 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
930 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
944 Indian Summer Adalbert Stifter 1857 Austrian German
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
964 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
980 News from Nowhere William Morris 1890 British English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
1012 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1032 In The Heart Of The Seas Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1938 Israeli Hebrew
1040 The German Lesson Siegfried Lenz 1968 German German
1044 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1080 Mount Analogue René Daumal 1952 French French
1088 The Dwarf Par Lagerkvist 1944 Swedish Swedish
1104 Maus Art Spiegelman 1980 American English
1112 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
1116 Hadrian the Seventh Frederick Rolfe 1904 British English
1118 Germany, a Winter Tale Heinrich Heine 1844 German German
1120 The Sorrow of Belgium Hugo Claus 1983 Belgian Dutch
1135 The Tunnel Ernesto Sábato 1948 Argentinian Spanish
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
1157 Twice-Told Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne 1837 American English
1178 Nathan the Wise Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1779 German German
1182 Poems of Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca 1921 Spanish Spanish
1199 This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Tadeusz Borowski 1947 Polish Polish
1213 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1223 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1228 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
1229 Songs of Innocence and Experience William Blake 1789 British English
1232 Children of Gebelawi Naguib Mahfouz 1959 Egyptian Arabic
1236 Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories Ryunosuke Akutagawa 1915 Japanese Japanese
1238 The Age of Anxiety W. H. Auden 1947 British English
1251 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
1255 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
1260 The President Miguel Angel Asturias 1946 Guatemalan Spanish
1270 Omeros Derek Walcott 1990 Saint Lucian English
1273 Robert Browning's Poetry Robert Browning 1833 British English
1280 The Death of Artemio Cruz Carlos Fuentes 1962 Mexican Spanish
1284 The Faerie Queene Edmund Spenser 1590 British English
1298 The Days of His Grace Eyvind Johnson 1960 Swedish Swedish
1302 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1311 Boredom Alberto Moravia 1960 Italian Italian
1336 Peter Schlemihl Adalbert von Chamisso 1814 German German
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1357 I and Thou Martin Buber 1923 Austrian German
1358 The Principle Of Hope Ernst Bloch 1954 German German
1374 Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess 1980 British English
1378 The Towers Of Trebizond Rose Macauley 1956 British English
1401 Silence of the Sea Vercors 1942 French French
1414 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
1424 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1430 The Wandering Jew Eugène Sue 1844 French French
1438 Masnavi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1258 Persian Persian
1455 Antigone Jean Anouilh 1944 French French
1461 Oranges are not the only Fruit Jeanette Winterson 1985 British English
1465 Narcissus And Goldmund Hermann Hesse 1930 German German
1467 Everyman Unknown 1501 Unknown Middle english
1476 Flatland Edwin A. Abbott 1884 British English
1478 The Shipyard Juan Carlos Onetti 1961 Uruguayan Spanish
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1480 Divided Heaven Christa Wolf 1963 German German
1488 Beatrijs Unknown 1374 Dutch Middle dutch