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 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
7966 Saint Genet Jean Paul Sartre 1952 French French
8008 Victims Of Duty Eugène Ionesco 1953 French French
8068 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8073 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8075 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8104 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8142 Jerusalem Commands Michael Moorcock 1992 British English
8175 Cuando Ya No Importe Juan Carlos Onetti 1993 Uruguayan Spanish
8176 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8201 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8238 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8437 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8439 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8441 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8468 Three Novels Witold Gombrowicz 1960 Polish Polish
8468 Collected Poems Weldon Kees 1960 American English
8603 Lyrical And Critical Essays Albert Camus 1968 French French
8634 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8734 The Dalkey Archive Flann O'Brien 1964 Irish English
8748 Running Away Jean-Philippe Toussaint 2005 French French
8763 War Diaries Jean Paul Sartre 1940 French French
8831 The Flies Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
8849 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
8893 I Have Not Seen Mandu Swadesh Deepak 2003 Indian Hindi
8899 O Encontro Marcado Fernando Sabino 1956 Brazilian Portuguese
8919 Poems Of Louis Mac Neice Louis MacNeice 1966 Irish English
9005 A Change Of Skin Carlos Fuentes 1967 Mexican Spanish
9032 Yama Loka Terminus Léo Henry, Jacques Mucchielli 2008 French French
9111 The Heron Giorgio Bassani 1968 Italian Italian
9123 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9134 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9155 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9242 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9252 Portrait Of A Man Unknown Nathalie Sarraute 1948 French French
9324 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9353 The Family Idiot Jean Paul Sartre 1971 French French
9363 The Conspiracy Paul Nizan 1938 French French
9502 False Years Josefina Vicens 1964 Mexican Unknown
9545 The Libera Me Domine Robert Pinget 1972 French Unknown
9569 Pigeons On The Grass Wolfgang Koeppen 1951 German German
9626 Largo Desolato Vaclav Havel 1985 Czech Czech
9656 Sebastian Dreaming Georg Trakl Austrian German
9751 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9752 The Denial of Death Ernest Becker 1973 American English
9778 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9806 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9824 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9882 The Wall Jean Paul Sartre 1939 French French
10009 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10054 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10062 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10093 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10166 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10187 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10199 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10205 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10219 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10239 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
10272 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10448 Nothing to be Frightened Of Julian Barnes 2008 British English
10448 Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt 2012 American English
10502 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10539 I Am Not Sidney Poitier Percival Everett 2009 American English
10620 The Dog That Saw God Dino Buzzati Italian Italian
10654 An Accidental Man Iris Murdoch 1971 British English
10745 1934 Alberto Moravia 1982 Italian Italian
10745 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10795 I'm Gone Jean Echenoz 1999 French French
10900 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10905 The Last Novel David Markson 2007 American English
10920 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10958 Heartsnatcher Boris Vian 1953 French French
10988 Love And Will Rollo May 1969 American English
11057 The Red Grass Boris Vian 1949 French French
11203 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11271 I Am The Dust Under Your Feet Walter Abish 1987 American English
11360 La Vie Rêvée Antonia Pozzi Italian Italian
11360 Le Monde Tel Qu'il Est Salvat Etchart French Unknown
11360 The Pencil Territory Robert Walser Swiss Unknown
11360 The Watch Nikos Kavvadias Greek Greek
11360 Évangile Des égarés Georgina Tacou Unknown French
11567 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11612 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11637 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11660 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11805 The Meursault Investigation Kamel Daoud 2013 Algerian French
11857 I Is Another Arthur Rimbaud French French
12017 La Danseuse Patrick Modiano 2023 French French
12024 Biotope Orly Castel-Bloom 2022 Israeli Hebrew
12027 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12034 We Are The Ants Shaun David Hutchinson 2016 American English
12083 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12184 The Short Cut Ennio Flaiano 1947 Italian Unknown
12198 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
12219 The Victim Saul Bellow 1947 American English
12324 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12324 Toward The End Of Time John Updike 1997 American English
12701 Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol 2002 Spanish Catalan
12792 Echine Philippe Djian 1982 French French
13283 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
13318 Redshirts John Scalzi 2012 American English
13498 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13511 Indecision Benjamin Kunkel 2005 American English
13599 Die Gasse Der Dunklen Läden Patrick Modiano 1978 French French
13599 The Mercy Of God Jean Cau 1961 French French
13730 Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick 2002 American English
13803 The Drunkard Liu Yichang 1963 Chinese Chinese
13817 Le stelle fredde Guido Piovene 1952 Italian Italian
13817 A Caso Tommaso Landolfi 1975 Italian Italian
13817 La Grande Sera Giuseppe Pontiggia 1987 Italian Italian
13922 Dangerous Visions Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
14041 Durcheinandertal Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1989 Swiss German
14067 Sanin Mikhail Artsybashev 1907 Russian Russian
14138 The Big Time Fritz Leiber 1958 American English
14202 Tau Zero Poul Anderson 1970 American English
14431 American Innovations Rivka Galchen 2014 American English
14434 Lost In The Funhouse John Barth 1968 American English
14457 Nog Rudy Wurlitzer 1969 American English
14730 I, etcetera Susan Sontag 1978 American English
14784 Fear and Trembling Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish