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
7967 Saint Genet Jean Paul Sartre 1952 French French
8009 Victims Of Duty Eugène Ionesco 1953 French French
8069 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8074 Chronic City Jonathan Lethem 2009 American English
8076 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8106 O Miki Liukkonen 2017 Finnish Finnish
8144 Jerusalem Commands Michael Moorcock 1992 British 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
8240 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8441 Heaven And Hell Jón Kalman Stefánsson 2007 Icelandic Icelandic
8443 Diaries 1959 1971 Alejandra Pizarnik 2003 Argentinian Spanish
8445 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8473 Three Novels Witold Gombrowicz 1960 Polish Polish
8473 Collected Poems Weldon Kees 1960 American English
8607 Lyrical And Critical Essays Albert Camus 1968 French French
8638 Unformed Landscape Peter Stamm 2001 Swiss German
8739 The Dalkey Archive Flann O'Brien 1964 Irish English
8753 Running Away Jean-Philippe Toussaint 2005 French French
8768 War Diaries Jean Paul Sartre 1940 French French
8835 The Flies Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
8853 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
8897 I Have Not Seen Mandu Swadesh Deepak 2003 Indian Hindi
8903 O Encontro Marcado Fernando Sabino 1956 Brazilian Portuguese
8923 Poems Of Louis Mac Neice Louis MacNeice 1966 Irish English
9009 A Change Of Skin Carlos Fuentes 1967 Mexican Spanish
9036 Yama Loka Terminus Léo Henry, Jacques Mucchielli 2008 French French
9116 The Heron Giorgio Bassani 1968 Italian Italian
9128 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9139 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9160 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9246 The Complete Dramatic Works Of Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett 1986 Irish English
9256 Portrait Of A Man Unknown Nathalie Sarraute 1948 French French
9262 Nothing to be Frightened Of Julian Barnes 2008 British English
9329 René’S Flesh Virgilio Piñera 1988 Cuban Spanish
9358 The Family Idiot Jean Paul Sartre 1971 French French
9368 The Conspiracy Paul Nizan 1938 French French
9507 False Years Josefina Vicens 1964 Mexican Unknown
9550 The Libera Me Domine Robert Pinget 1972 French Unknown
9574 Pigeons On The Grass Wolfgang Koeppen 1951 German German
9630 Largo Desolato Vaclav Havel 1985 Czech Czech
9659 Sebastian Dreaming Georg Trakl Austrian German
9754 Darkness Spoken Ingeborg Bachmann 2006 Austrian German
9755 The Denial of Death Ernest Becker 1973 American English
9781 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9809 The Childhood Of Jesus J. M. Coetzee 2013 South African English
9827 The Opposite Of A Person Lieke Marsman 2017 Dutch Dutch
9885 The Wall Jean Paul Sartre 1939 French French
10013 Three Stories J. M. Coetzee 2014 South African English
10059 Collected Shorter Plays Samuel Beckett 1984 Irish English
10067 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10098 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10170 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10192 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10204 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10210 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10225 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10245 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
10277 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10453 Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt 2012 American English
10507 A Voyage To India Gonçalo M. Tavares 2010 Portuguese Portuguese
10545 I Am Not Sidney Poitier Percival Everett 2009 American English
10626 The Dog That Saw God Dino Buzzati Italian Italian
10660 An Accidental Man Iris Murdoch 1971 British English
10751 1934 Alberto Moravia 1982 Italian Italian
10751 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10801 I'm Gone Jean Echenoz 1999 French French
10906 Liveblog Megan Boyle 2015 American English
10911 The Last Novel David Markson 2007 American English
10926 Stirrings Still Samuel Beckett 1988 Irish English
10964 Heartsnatcher Boris Vian 1953 French French
10994 Love And Will Rollo May 1969 American English
11063 The Red Grass Boris Vian 1949 French French
11209 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11277 I Am The Dust Under Your Feet Walter Abish 1987 American English
11365 La Vie Rêvée Antonia Pozzi Italian Italian
11365 Le Monde Tel Qu'il Est Salvat Etchart French Unknown
11365 The Pencil Territory Robert Walser Swiss Unknown
11365 The Watch Nikos Kavvadias Greek Greek
11365 Évangile Des égarés Georgina Tacou Unknown French
11568 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11614 Homesick for Another World Ottessa Moshfegh 2017 American English
11639 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11662 Staring At The Sun Julian Barnes 1986 British English
11806 The Meursault Investigation Kamel Daoud 2013 Algerian French
11858 I Is Another Arthur Rimbaud French French
12018 La Danseuse Patrick Modiano 2023 French French
12025 Biotope Orly Castel-Bloom 2022 Israeli Hebrew
12028 Night Train To Lisbon Pascal Mercier 2004 Swiss German
12035 We Are The Ants Shaun David Hutchinson 2016 American English
12084 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12185 The Short Cut Ennio Flaiano 1947 Italian Unknown
12199 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
12220 The Victim Saul Bellow 1947 American English
12326 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12326 Toward The End Of Time John Updike 1997 American English
12703 Cold Skin Albert Sánchez Piñol 2002 Spanish Catalan
12794 Echine Philippe Djian 1982 French French
13286 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
13321 Redshirts John Scalzi 2012 American English
13500 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13513 Indecision Benjamin Kunkel 2005 American English
13600 Die Gasse Der Dunklen Läden Patrick Modiano 1978 French French
13600 The Mercy Of God Jean Cau 1961 French French
13731 Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick 2002 American English
13804 The Drunkard Liu Yichang 1963 Chinese Chinese
13818 Le stelle fredde Guido Piovene 1952 Italian Italian
13818 A Caso Tommaso Landolfi 1975 Italian Italian
13818 La Grande Sera Giuseppe Pontiggia 1987 Italian Italian
13923 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
14432 American Innovations Rivka Galchen 2014 American English
14435 Lost In The Funhouse John Barth 1968 American English
14458 Nog Rudy Wurlitzer 1969 American English
14731 I, etcetera Susan Sontag 1978 American English
14785 Fear and Trembling Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish