The Greatest Drama 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
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
686 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
687 The Time of the Hero Mario Vargas Llosa 1963 Peruvian Spanish
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
704 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 1958 American English
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
720 The Professor's House Willa Cather 1925 American English
729 Thérèse Desqueyroux François Mauriac 1927 French French
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
754 If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem William Faulkner 1939 American English
758 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
764 Mother Maxim Gorky 1906 Russian Russian
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
772 The Group Mary McCarthy 1963 American English
802 Romance of the Three Kingdoms Guanzhong Luo 1400 Chinese Chinese
857 Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz 1947 Egyptian Arabic
872 Pallieter Felix Timmermans 1916 Belgian Dutch
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
901 Last Exit to Brooklyn Hubert Selby 1964 American English
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
956 The Girls of Slender Means Muriel Spark 1963 British English
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
978 The History Of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray 1852 British English
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
989 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
992 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
995 Dombey and Son Charles Dickens 1846 British English
997 Julie, or the New Heloise Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1761 French French
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1003 A Dry White Season Andre Brink 1979 South African Afrikaans
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1021 If Not Now, When? Primo Levi 1982 Italian Italian
1024 Some Prefer Nettles Junichiro Tanizaki 1929 Japanese Japanese
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1061 First Love Ivan Turgenev 1860 Russian Russian
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English
1084 Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1090 The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoy 1889 Russian Russian
1096 The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard 1980 Australian English
1109 Othello William Shakespeare 1603 British English
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1125 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1126 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
1127 The Devil in the Flesh Raymond Radiguet 1923 French French
1136 The Black Prince Iris Murdoch 1973 British English
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
1146 Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens 1839 British English
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1162 Essays Francis Bacon 1597 British English
1177 Phèdre Jean Racine 1677 French French
1181 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski 1965 Polish English
1208 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1219 The Time of Indifference Alberto Moravia 1929 Italian Italian
1222 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1230 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 1918 American English
1235 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1273 Selected Poems of Lord Byron Lord Byron 1800 British English
1294 Peyton Place Grace Metalious 1956 American English
1296 The Works of Moliere Molière 1666 French French
1297 Poetics Aristotle -322 Greek Greek
1300 The Guide R. K. Narayan 1958 Indian English
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1308 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1316 The Fountain Overflows Rebecca West 1956 British English
1325 A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark 1988 British English
1334 Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton 1941 British English
1337 A Legacy Sybille Bedford 1956 German English
1339 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
1340 As You Like it William Shakespeare 1600 British English
1341 The Graduate Charles Webb 1963 American English
1350 Seven Against Thebes Aeschylus -467 Greek Ancient greek
1351 The Suppliants Aeschylus -463 Greek Ancient greek
1353 William Tell Friedrich Schiller 1804 German German
1362 The Heart Of Midlothian Sir Walter Scott 1818 Scottish English
1365 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1382 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
1389 On The Orator Marcus Tullius Cicero -55 Roman Latin
1391 A Separate Peace John Knowles 1959 American English
1396 Pierre et Jean Guy de Maupassant 1888 French French
1402 The Seagull Anton Chekhov 1896 Russian Russian
1408 Amongst Women John McGahern 1990 Irish English
1432 A Woman's Life Guy de Maupassant 1883 French French
1437 Bébo's Girl Carlo Cassola 1960 Italian Italian
1439 Édes Anna Dezső Kosztolányi 1926 Hungarian Hungarian
1455 Antigone Jean Anouilh 1944 French French
1467 Everyman Unknown 1501 Unknown Middle english
1471 Aurélien Louis Aragon 1944 French French
1475 Lettres de madame de Sévigné Marie de Rabutin-Chantal marquise de Sévigné 1671 French French
1482 Eline Vere Louis Couperus 1889 Dutch Dutch
1483 Tono Bungay H. G. Wells 1909 British English
1484 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
1499 Three Comrades Erich Maria Remarque 1936 German German
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1516 The Alberta Trilogy Cora Sandel 1926 Norwegian Norwegian
1516 The People of Hemsö August Strindberg 1887 Swedish Swedish
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1521 The Robbers Friedrich Schiller 1781 German German
1522 Cancer Ward Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1967 Russian Russian