The Greatest Books of All Time on Despair

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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
2200 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2209 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2261 Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara 1934 American English
2262 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2275 Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
2278 The Twelve Alexander Blok 1918 Russian Russian
2315 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2339 The Pearl John Steinbeck 1947 American English
2362 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
2386 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2394 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2408 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2421 The Melancholy of Resistance László Krasznahorkai 1989 Hungarian Hungarian
2456 By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
2470 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2546 The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allan Poe 1842 American English
2557 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2565 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2610 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French
2637 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2644 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
2716 Something Happened Joseph Heller 1974 American English
2744 Ved Vejen Herman Bang 1886 Danish Danish
2752 Fabian Erich Kästner 1931 German German
2799 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
2823 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
2866 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
2952 Nevsky Prospekt Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
2959 The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky 1902 Russian Russian
2969 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2978 My Friends Emmanuel Bove 1924 French French
2999 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
3000 Poor Folk Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
3104 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
3161 Weights And Measures Joseph Roth 1937 Austrian German
3263 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3273 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3295 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
3830 Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
3928 The Vice-Consul Marguerite Duras 1966 French French
3954 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3954 The Great Chimera M. Karagatsis 1953 Greek Greek
3954 Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες Kostas Karyotakis 1927 Greek Greek
3954 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3954 Life In The Tomb Stratis Myrivilis 1924 Greek Greek
3954 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
4105 Poor Liza Nikolay Karamzin 1792 Russian Russian
4124 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4121 Each Man In His Darkness Julien Green 1960 French French
4154 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4208 The Case Worker György Konrád 1969 Hungarian Hungarian
4225 Orestes Euripides -408 Greek Ancient greek
4310 Love On The Dole Walter Greenwood 1933 British English
4372 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4437 The Dream Songs John Berryman 1964 American English
4476 Al Mawt `Ala Al Asfalt `Abd al-Rahman Abnudi 1960 Egyptian Arabic
4491 Voyage In The Dark Jean Rhys 1934 British English
4494 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4561 The Lady's Not For Burning Christopher Fry 1948 British English
4633 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4817 The New Oxford Book Of English Verse Helen Gardner 1972 British English
4893 The Short Stories Of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1886 Russian Russian
4941 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4946 A Short History Of Decay Emil Cioran 1949 French French
5026 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5040 Eight Men Richard Wright 1961 American English
5046 Selected Poems Of George Sterling George Sterling 1923 American English
5112 The Winter Of Our Discontent John Steinbeck 1961 American English
5160 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5170 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
5271 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5361 The Portable Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker 1944 American English
5362 On Suicide Jean Améry 1976 Unknown German
5421 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5458 Mercy Among The Children David Adams Richards 2000 Canadian English
5531 Petrolejové Lampy Jaroslav Havlíček 1944 Czech Czech
5591 How It Is Samuel Beckett 1961 Irish French
5693 Period Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
5705 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
5783 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5819 René François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1802 French French
5832 Poems Archilochos -650 Greek Ancient greek
5853 Chatterton Alfred de Vigny 1835 French French
5863 The Last Days of Mankind Karl Kraus 1919 Austrian German
5863 Poems And Prose Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
5863 Twenty Love Poems And A Song Of Despair Pablo Neruda 1924 Chilean Spanish
5896 A Confession Leo Tolstoy 1882 Russian Russian
5900 Complete Works Arthur Rimbaud 1895 French French
5918 Hard Labor Cesare Pavese 1938 Italian Italian
5958 House Of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera 1978 Zimbabwean English
6005 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6005 Waiting For Nothing And Other Writings Tom Kromer 1935 American English
6005 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6005 Dire I–Ii Danielle Collobert 1972 French French
6005 Les Murs De Fresnes Henri Calet 1945 French French
6005 Night Edgar Hilsenrath 1964 German German
6005 Poem Of The End Marina Tsvetaeva 1923 Russian Russian
6005 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6005 Septentrion Louis Calaferte 1963 French French