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
6005 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6144 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
6236 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6303 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6309 Hatter's Castle A. J. Cronin 1931 British English
6358 Heroes' Shrine For Sale or The Elegant Toilet Marios Hakkas 1993 Greek Greek
6463 Things We Lost In The Fire Mariana Enríquez 2016 Argentinian Spanish
6493 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6503 The End Of The Road John Barth 1958 American English
6548 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6565 Candy Mian Mian 2000 Chinese Chinese
6623 Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light Ivan Klima 1993 Czech Czech
6668 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez 1992 Colombian Spanish
6695 The Stories Of Breece D'j Pancake Breece D'J Pancake 1983 American English
6748 Psalm At Journey's End Erik Fosnes Hansen 1990 Norwegian Norwegian
6762 The World's Illusion Jakob Wassermann 1920 German German
6821 The Swimmer John Cheever 1964 American English
6821 Let It Come Down Paul Bowles 1952 American English
6821 The Lost Weekend Charles Jackson 1944 American English
6846 The Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce 1970 American English
6857 Hell Has No Limits José Donoso 1965 Chilean Spanish
6910 The Wounded Land Stephen R. Donaldson 1980 American English
6915 Other Fires Maxim Gorky 1900 Russian Unknown
7034 The Politics Of Cultural Despair Fritz Stern 1961 American English
7037 Bright Shiny Morning James Frey 2008 American English
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7096 Guide Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7160 The Poems Of Manolis Anagnostakis Manolis Anagnostakis 2001 Greek Greek
7191 The Complete Plays Of Eugene O'neill Eugene O'Neill 1959 American English
7216 Prison Of Love Diego de San Pedro 1485 Spanish Spanish
7216 Rime Gaspara Stampa 1554 Italian Italian
7216 Samson Agonistes John Milton 1671 British English
7216 Juives Robert Garnier 1583 French French
7216 Last Letters Of Jacopo Ortis Ugo Foscolo 1802 Italian Italian
7216 Complete Poems Of Alfred De Musset Alfred de Musset 1857 French French
7216 The Dance Of Death August Strindberg 1900 Swedish Swedish
7216 Poems Of Thomas Lovell Beddoes Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1851 British English
7216 The Poems And Plays Of Thomas Wade Thomas Wade 1800 British English
7216 Poems Of Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold 1853 British English
7216 Poems Of Arthur Hugh Clough Arthur Hugh Clough 1862 British English
7216 The City Of The Dreadful Night James Thomson 1880 British English
7216 Poems Of Stefan George Stefan George 1897 German German
7216 From The Other Shore Alexander Herzen 1850 Russian Russian
7216 Coup De Grace Marguerite Yourcenar 1939 French French
7216 Poems Of Georg Trakl Georg Trakl 1913 Austrian German
7216 Selected Tales Leonid Andreyev 1900 Russian Russian
7216 Perched On Nothing's Branch Attila József 1932 Hungarian Hungarian
7216 Poems Of H. Leivick H. Leivick 1918 Yiddish Yiddish
7216 Poems Of Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson 1897 American English
7216 Poems Of Robinson Jeffers Robinson Jeffers 1920 American English
7216 Man Against Himself Karl A. Menninger 1938 American English
7643 Fiskadoro Denis Johnson 1985 American English
7717 Three Tragedies Federico García Lorca 1947 Spanish Spanish
7810 Bullet Park John Cheever 1969 American English
7861 Poems Of Blas De Otero Blas de Otero 1950 Spanish Spanish
7943 The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
7959 La Casa De La Fuerza Angélica Liddell 2009 Spanish Spanish
7967 Complete Poems And Selected Letters And Prose Hart Crane 1952 American English
8107 After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie Jean Rhys 1930 British English
8144 Suspicious River Laura Kasischke 1999 American English
8177 Cuando Ya No Importe Juan Carlos Onetti 1993 Uruguayan Spanish
8178 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8203 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8443 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8473 Collected Poems Weldon Kees 1960 American English
8473 The Patrick Melrose Novels Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
8952 Eu Augusto Dos Anjos 1912 Brazilian Portuguese
9192 American Rust Philipp Meyer 2009 American English
9246 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9276 Angels Denis Johnson 1983 American English
9294 Casualties John Pepper Clark 1970 Nigerian English
9324 The Butterfly’s Burden Mahmoud Darwish 2007 Palestinian Arabic
9660 The Cell Horst Bienek German Unknown
9744 View Of Dawn In The Tropics Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1974 Cuban Spanish
9836 Poems Of Stevie Smith Stevie Smith 1975 British English
9836 Exile And Return Yannis Ritsos 1975 Greek Greek
9860 Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky Patrick Hamilton 1935 British English
9889 Novel With Cocaine M. Ageyev 1934 Russian Russian
10024 Race Matters Cornel West 1993 American English
10060 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10077 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10099 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10140 Badenheim 1939 Aharon Appelfeld 1978 Israeli Hebrew
10559 Seven Plays Sam Shepard 1981 American English
10616 Verdun Jules Romains 1938 French French
10736 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10752 1934 Alberto Moravia 1982 Italian Italian
10785 Act Of The Damned António Lobo Antunes 1985 Portuguese Portuguese
10927 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10939 Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins 1966 Irish English
11052 The Complete Plays of T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1969 British English
11162 Lie Down In Darkness William Styron 1951 American English
11407 Big Sur Jack Kerouac 1962 American English
11470 Furnace Livia Llewellyn 2016 American English
11508 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11568 The Sickness Unto Death Soren Kierkegaard 1849 Danish Danish
11573 Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway 1927 American English
11653 All Of Us Raymond Carver 1996 American English
12222 The Swallows Of Kabul Yasmina Khadra 2002 Algerian French
12326 The Island Gustaw Herling 1958 Polish Polish
13279 This Blinding Absence Of Light Tahar Ben Jelloun 2001 French French
13340 Project X Jim Shepard 2004 American English
13818 Poveri E Semplici Anna Maria Ortese 1967 Italian Italian
13818 La Morte Del Fiume Guglielmo Petroni 1958 Italian Italian
14068 Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Raymond Carver 1976 American English
14067 Sanin Mikhail Artsybashev 1907 Russian Russian
14100 The Royal Family William T. Vollmann 2000 American English
14209 Awake And Sing! Clifford Odets 1935 American English
14435 Foma Gordeyev Maxim Gorky 1899 Russian Russian
14456 The Spell Of The Yukon Robert W. Service 1907 British English
14899 Maggie Stephen Crane 1893 American English
14985 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Wells Tower 2009 American English
14976 The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1968 Peruvian Spanish
14972 All That Fall Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish English
14985 Metro 2033 Dmitri Glukhovsky 2005 Russian Russian
14985 Old Masters Thomas Bernhard 1985 Austrian German
15713 Early Plays Eugene O'Neill 1932 American English
15808 Collected Poems Of T. S. Eliot 1909 1935 T. S. Eliot 1936 American English
15883 Tomb For 500,000 Soldiers Pierre Guyotat 1967 French French
15916 Creatures that Once Were Men Maxim Gorky 1905 Russian Russian