The Greatest Books of All Time on Existentialism

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
4559 The Lady's Not For Burning Christopher Fry 1948 British English
4580 Antiworlds Andrey Voznesensky 1964 Russian Russian
4606 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4609 Las Personas Del Verbo Jaime Gil de Biedma
 1975 Spanish Spanish
4644 The Face Of Another Kobo Abé 1964 Japanese Japanese
4660 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4710 Pigeon Feathers And Other Stories John Updike 1962 American English
4762 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
4827 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4877 Heroes And Tombs Ernesto Sábato 1961 Argentinian Spanish
4877 L'instant Fatal Raymond Queneau 1948 French French
4944 The Breast Philip Roth 1972 American English
4943 A Short History Of Decay Emil Cioran 1949 French French
5018 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5117 Нощем с белите коне Pavel Vezhinov 1957 Bulgarian Bulgarian
5124 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5130 Die Vollidioten Eckhard Henscheid 1973 German German
5157 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5232 Mouth Full Of Earth Branimir Scepanovic 1975 Montenegrin Serbo-croatian
5235 Deep River Shūsaku Endō 1993 Japanese Japanese
5240 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5360 To Have Or To Be? The Nature Of The Psyche Erich Fromm 1976 German English
5360 On Suicide Jean Améry 1976 Unknown German
5360 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5426 Venus On The Half Shell Philip José Farmer 1975 American English
5445 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5529 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5581 The Young Man Botho Strauß 1984 German German
5605 Die Fälschung Nicolas Born 1979 German German
5605 The Imperative Of Responsibility Hans Jonas 1979 German German
5665 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5665 Baiyun Oder Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft Adolf Muschg 1980 Swiss German
5719 Youth J. M. Coetzee 2002 South African English
5747 The Message In the Bottle Walker Percy 1975 American English
5818 René François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1802 French French
5888 Sartor Resartus Thomas Carlyle 1836 British English
5893 A Confession Leo Tolstoy 1882 Russian Russian
5912 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5906 Thomas The Obscure Maurice Blanchot 1941 French French
5902 Notes From Underground & Other Stories Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
5935 Spätestens Im November Hans Erich Nossack 1982 German German
5991 The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf Victor Pelevin 2004 Russian Russian
5998 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6002 Inner Experience Georges Bataille 1943 French French
6002 Chekhov's Selected Stories Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
6002 Collected Stories Franz Kafka 1931 Austrian German
6002 The Lord Chandos Letter And Other Writings Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1902 Austrian German
6002 Leaves of Hypnos René Char 1946 French French
6002 A Certain Plume Henri Michaux 1930 French English
6002 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6002 Dire I–Ii Danielle Collobert 1972 French French
6002 Le Bavard Louis-René Des Forêts 1946 French French
6002 Madame Edwarda Unknown 1941 Unknown French
6002 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6002 Marginalia On Casanova Miklós Szentkuthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
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 Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6002 The Motorcycle André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1963 French French
6002 The Sailor From Gibraltar Marguerite Duras 1952 French French
6089 Herr Gustafsson Himself Lars Gustafsson 1983 Swedish Swedish
6131 L'hiver De Force Réjean Ducharme 1973 Canadian French
6175 Notebooks Albert Camus 1935 French French
6200 The Bridge Iain Banks 1986 Scottish English
6259 At The Existentialist Café Sarah Bakewell 2016 British English
6263 Pan In Oslo Knut Faldbakken 1985 Norwegian German
6351 The Perennial Scope Of Philosophy Karl Jaspers 1949 German German
6355 Heroes' Shrine For Sale or The Elegant Toilet Marios Hakkas 1993 Greek Greek
6360 Girlfriend In A Coma Douglas Coupland 1998 Canadian English
6375 Asterios Polyp David Mazzucchelli 2009 American English
6377 Jumpers Tom Stoppard 1972 British English
6400 The Chairs Eugène Ionesco 1952 French French
6403 L'iguana Anna Maria Ortese 1965 Italian Italian
6424 Le Pays Où Tout Est Permis Sophie Podolski 1979 Unknown French
6462 Comment S'en Sortir Sans Sortir Ghérasim Luca 1980 French French
6470 The Sound Of My Voice Ron Butlin 1987 British English
6501 The End Of The Road John Barth 1958 American English
6546 Heldenplatz Thomas Bernhard 1988 Austrian German
6554 Žmogus, Kuris Miega Georges Perec 1967 French French
6562 Avalanche Blaga Dimitrova 1980 Bulgarian Bulgarian
6573 Phenomenology Of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1945 French French
6574 Ingrid Caven Jean-Jacques Schuhl 2000 French French
6584 Im Bach Des Wals Paul Nizon 1983 Swiss German
6621 The Life of Insects Victor Pelevin 1993 Russian Russian
6635 Journey To The Land Of The Real Victor Segalen 1983 French French
6635 Savannah Bay Marguerite Duras 1983 French French
6635 The Stadium Of Wimbledon Daniele del Giudice 1983 Italian Italian
6645 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek
6655 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6678 The Imago Sequence And Other Stories Laird Barron 2007 American English
6687 Le Drame De La Vie & Le Discours Aux Animaux Valère Novarina 1984 French French
6806 Maudit Manège Philippe Djian 1986 French French
6821 Let It Come Down Paul Bowles 1952 American English
6857 Hell Has No Limits José Donoso 1965 Chilean Spanish
6902 Autobiography Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
6980 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Joan Didion 2006 American English
6996 Panegyric Guy Debord 1989 French French
7003 Le Bonheur De La Nuit Hélène Bessette 1954 French French
7056 Kaddish For An Unborn Child Imre Kertész 1990 Hungarian Hungarian
7133 Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac 1965 American English
7215 Selected Writings Jules Laforgue 1901 French French
7215 To Damascus August Strindberg 1898 Swedish Swedish
7215 The City Of The Dreadful Night James Thomson 1880 British English
7215 Short Novels Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
7215 Clarel Herman Melville 1876 American English
7215 Manhood Michel Leiris 1939 French French
7215 Selected Tales Leonid Andreyev 1900 Russian Russian
7215 The Empty Book Josefina Vicens 1958 Mexican English
7605 L'interruption Dominique Noguez 1993 French French
7655 The Sunday Of Life Raymond Queneau 1952 French French
7711 The Snow Of The Admiral Alvaro Mutis 1986 Colombian Spanish
7715 Selected Writings Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
7724 Stupidity Rafael Spregelburd 2007 Argentinian Spanish
7792 The Gay Science Friedrich Nietzsche 1882 German German
7811 Cain José Saramago 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
7809 Bullet Park John Cheever 1969 American English
7819 Selected Writings Henri Michaux 1949 French French
7836 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
7876 Baumgartner Paul Auster 2023 American English