The Greatest Books of All Time on Existentialism

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 743 '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
18 The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky 1880 Russian Russian
20 The Trial Franz Kafka 1925 Czech German
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
62 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry 1947 British English
77 The Plague Albert Camus 1947 French French
81 The Castle Franz Kafka 1926 Czech German
99 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
101 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera 1984 Czech Czech
127 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
151 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
171 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 1927 German German
172 Man's Fate Andre Malraux 1933 French French
183 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
190 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1979 British English
191 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
198 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 1985 American English
208 Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis 1946 Greek Greek
209 Hunger Knut Hamsun 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
222 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
242 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
244 Nausea Jean Paul Sartre 1938 French French
262 The Tartar Steppe Dino Buzzati 1940 Italian Italian
271 The Devil to Pay in the Backlands Joao Guimaraes Rosa 1956 Brazilian Portuguese
325 Solaris Stanislaw Lem 1961 Polish Polish
352 The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
353 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
380 Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor 1952 American English
406 The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus 1942 French French
424 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
448 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
459 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
463 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
482 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
494 The Third Policeman Flann O'Brien 1967 Irish English
504 Her Lover Albert Cohen 1968 Swiss French
527 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick 1968 American English
564 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
566 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
568 The French Lieutenant's Woman John Fowles 1969 British English
582 Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl 1946 Austrian German
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
593 Complete Poems of Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi 1831 Italian Italian
604 The Blind Owl Ṣādiq Hidāyat 1937 Iranian Persian
609 The Opposing Shore Julien Gracq 1951 French French
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
632 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
636 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
656 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
660 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 1976 American English
661 The House On The Borderland And Other Novels William Hope Hodgson 1908 British English
679 Humboldt's Gift Saul Bellow 1975 American English
683 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963 American English
691 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
743 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
752 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
768 A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay 1920 Scottish English
792 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959 American English
795 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
833 The Lost Steps Alejo Carpentier 1953 Cuban Spanish
857 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
881 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
883 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
900 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
909 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
914 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
928 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
998 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1009 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
1020 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1023 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
1041 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1059 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1074 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1075 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
1086 The Dwarf Par Lagerkvist 1944 Swedish Swedish
1087 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
1131 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1134 The Tunnel Ernesto Sábato 1948 Argentinian Spanish
1136 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
1138 The Unquiet Grave Cyril Connolly 1944 British English
1165 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1167 The Diaries Franz Kafka 1948 Czech German
1189 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1210 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1235 The Age of Anxiety W. H. Auden 1947 British English
1240 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis José Saramago 1984 Portuguese Portuguese
1249 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
1254 Death and the Dervish Meša Selimović 1966 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1329 One, No One and One Hundred Thousand Luigi Pirandello 1926 Italian Italian
1393 The Business of Living Cesare Pavese 1952 Italian Italian
1398 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon 1937 British English
1402 The Outsider Colin Wilson 1956 British English
1409 No Exit Jean Paul Sartre 1944 French French
1422 Out Of Space And Time Clark Ashton Smith 1942 American English
1425 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
1454 Pushkin House Andrey Bitov 1978 Russian Russian
1470 Aurélien Louis Aragon 1944 French French
1525 A History of Western Philosophy Bertrand Russell 1945 British English
1583 Past Continuous Yaakov Shabtai 1977 Israeli Hebrew
1588 Niels Lyhne Jens Peter Jacobson 1880 Danish Danish
1601 The Foundation Pit Andrey Platonov 1930 Russian Russian
1631 In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1968 American English
1635 The Sportswriter Richard Ford 1986 American English
1743 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1776 Doctor Glas Hjalmar Soderberg 1905 Swedish Swedish
1835 Grendel John Gardner 1971 American English
1853 The Courage to Be Paul Tillich 1952 German English
1905 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1958 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
1962 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
2006 Pincher Martin William Golding 1956 British English
2008 Poems Of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
2052 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English