The Greatest Fiction Books of All Time on Failure

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
191 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 1980 American English
270 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
463 Bouvard et PĂ©cuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
465 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
531 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
580 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
581 The Fountainhead Ayn Rand 1943 American English
928 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
1021 Cheese Willem Elsschot 1933 Belgian Dutch
1658 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1890 The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony Henry Handel Richardson 1917 Australian English
2034 The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever 1957 American English
3935 The Art of Fielding Chad Harbach 2011 American English
3945 Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture Apostolos Doxiadis 1992 Greek Greek
4284 Home Land Sam Lipsyte 2004 American English
4433 Spoon River Anthology Edgar Lee Masters 1915 American English
4461 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
4627 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
5001 Rich Man, Poor Man Irwin Shaw 1969 American English
5063 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5311 The Complete Works of Nathanael West Nathanael West 1957 American English
6510 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
7022 A Hologram For The King Dave Eggers 2012 American English
7081 The Information Martin Amis 1995 British English
7261 Raymond Carver Carol Sklenicka 2009 American English
7997 The Loser Thomas Bernhard 1983 Austrian German
8255 Seize The Day Saul Bellow 1956 American English
8325 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
9124 Johann Holtrop Rainald Goetz 2012 German German
11121 The Franchiser Stanley Elkin 1976 American English
11315 The Imperfectionists Tom Rachman 2010 British English
11317 The Damned Utd David Peace 2006 British English
11539 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin 1943 American English
11539 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser 1996 American English
11750 Mulligan Stew Gilbert Sorrentino 1979 American English
11539 Inseparabili Alessandro Piperno 2012 Italian Italian
11928 In Custody Anita Desai 1984 Indian English
11931 The Interestings Meg Wolitzer 2013 American English
12541 Almayer's Folly Joseph Conrad 1895 British English
14262 Sweet Bird Of Youth Tennessee Williams 1959 American English
14371 The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald 1989 American English
14371 Collected Stories John O'Hara 1984 American English
14371 Master Class Terrence McNally 1995 American English
14305 The Entertainer John Osborne 1957 British English
14371 Absurd Person Singular Alan Ayckbourn 1972 British English
14371 Mister Monkey Francine Prose 2016 American English
14371 The Cliff Dwellers Henry Blake Fuller 1893 American English
14371 The Cannibal Galaxy Cynthia Ozick 1983 American English
14371 Fat City Leonard Gardner 1969 American English