The Greatest Books of All Time on Despair

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
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2208 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2261 Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara 1934 American English
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2274 Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
2277 The Twelve Alexander Blok 1918 Russian Russian
2314 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2337 The Pearl John Steinbeck 1947 American English
2360 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
2384 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2392 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2406 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2419 The Melancholy of Resistance László Krasznahorkai 1989 Hungarian Hungarian
2454 By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
2468 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2544 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
2557 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2564 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2609 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French
2636 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2643 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
2715 Something Happened Joseph Heller 1974 American English
2743 Ved Vejen Herman Bang 1886 Danish Danish
2750 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2797 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
2820 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2863 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
2950 Nevsky Prospekt Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
2957 The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky 1902 Russian Russian
2967 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2976 My Friends Emmanuel Bove 1924 French French
2997 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
2998 Poor Folk Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
3103 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3160 Weights And Measures Joseph Roth 1937 Austrian German
3262 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3272 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3294 Sonnets Francisco de Quevedo 1648 Spanish Spanish
3322 Post Office Charles Bukowski 1971 American English
3324 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
3324 The Green Hat Michael Arlen 1924 British English
3324 The Tin Flute Gabrielle Roy 1945 Canadian French
3382 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3384 The Plague-Sower Gesualdo Bufalino 1981 Italian Italian
3387 Human Poems César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
3416 Bécon Les Bruyères Emmanuel Bove 1927 French French
3420 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
3584 Married Life David Vogel 1986 Jewish English
3587 The Complete Writings of Alfred de Musset Alfred de Musset 1907 French French
3591 Do Everything in the Dark Gary Indiana 2003 American English
3597 Time of Silence Luis Martín-Santos 1962 Spanish Spanish
3638 The Return and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1946 Russian Russian
3638 And where Were You, Adam? Heinrich Böll 1951 German German
3638 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3638 The Tunnel Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1952 Swiss German
3638 Bolwieser Oskar Maria Graf 1931 German German
3638 The City Beyond The River Hermann Kasack 1947 German German
3638 Stalingrad Theodor Plievier 1948 German German
3638 The Man Outside Wolfgang Borchert 1947 German German
3831 Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
3929 The Vice-Consul Marguerite Duras 1966 French French
3953 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3953 The Great Chimera M. Karagatsis 1953 Greek Greek
3953 Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες Kostas Karyotakis 1927 Greek Greek
3953 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3953 Life In The Tomb Stratis Myrivilis 1924 Greek Greek
3953 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
4104 Poor Liza Nikolay Karamzin 1792 Russian Russian
4123 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4120 Each Man In His Darkness Julien Green 1960 French French
4153 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4207 The Case Worker György Konrád 1969 Hungarian Hungarian
4224 Orestes Euripides -408 Greek Ancient greek
4309 Love On The Dole Walter Greenwood 1933 British English
4371 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4436 The Dream Songs John Berryman 1964 American English
4474 Al Mawt `Ala Al Asfalt `Abd al-Rahman Abnudi 1960 Egyptian Arabic
4488 Voyage In The Dark Jean Rhys 1934 British English
4492 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4559 The Lady's Not For Burning Christopher Fry 1948 British English
4631 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4815 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
4891 The Short Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1886 Russian Russian
4938 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4943 A Short History Of Decay Emil Cioran 1949 French French
5022 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5036 Eight Men Richard Wright 1961 American English
5042 Selected Poems Of George Sterling George Sterling 1923 American English
5109 The Winter Of Our Discontent John Steinbeck 1961 American English
5157 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5167 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5269 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5359 The Portable Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker 1944 American English
5360 On Suicide Jean Améry 1976 Unknown German
5418 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5455 Mercy Among The Children David Adams Richards 2000 Canadian English
5529 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5690 Period Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
5702 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
5780 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5818 René François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1802 French French
5830 Poems Archilochos -650 Greek Ancient greek
5851 Chatterton Alfred de Vigny 1835 French French
5860 The Last Days of Mankind Karl Kraus 1919 Austrian German
5860 Poems And Prose Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
5860 Twenty Love Poems And A Song Of Despair Pablo Neruda 1924 Chilean Spanish
5893 A Confession Leo Tolstoy 1882 Russian Russian
5897 Complete Works Arthur Rimbaud 1895 French French
5915 Hard Labor Cesare Pavese 1938 Italian Italian
5954 House Of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera 1978 Zimbabwean English
6002 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6002 Waiting For Nothing And Other Writings Tom Kromer 1935 American English
6002 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6002 Dire I–Ii Danielle Collobert 1972 French French
6002 Les Murs De Fresnes Henri Calet 1945 French French
6002 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6002 Poem Of The End Marina Tsvetaeva 1923 Russian Russian
6002 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6002 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French
6002 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian