The Greatest Books of All Time on Madness

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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
2565 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2630 Our Lady Of Darkness Fritz Leiber 1977 American English
2662 Daughters of Fire Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
2682 The Czar's Madman Jaan Kross 1978 Estonian Estonian
2688 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2835 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
2935 Dolly City Orly Castel-Bloom 1992 Israeli Hebrew
3011 Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson 1988 American English
3022 The Madman Of Bergerac Georges Simenon 1932 Belgian French
3087 Summer in Baden-Baden Leonid Tsypkin 1980 Russian Russian
3205 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3225 The Driver's Seat Muriel Spark 1970 British English
3308 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch 1968 American English
3324 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
3324 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
3324 Insatiability Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 1930 Polish Polish
3324 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French
3391 Bomarzo Manuel Mujica Lainez 1962 Argentinian Spanish
3407 All Heads Turn When The Hunt Goes By John Farris 1977 American English
3407 In A Lonely Place Karl Edward Wagner 1977 American English
3426 The Violent Bear It Away Flannery O'Connor 1960 American English
3440 The House Next Door Anne Rivers Siddons 1978 American English
3466 Murgunstrumm And Others Hugh B. Cave 1977 American English
3510 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3511 Alone With The Horrors Ramsey Campbell 1993 British English
3638 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3638 Leviathan Julien Green 1929 French French
3839 Gog Andrew Sinclair 1967 British English
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3928 The Vice-Consul Marguerite Duras 1966 French French
3954 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
4075 The Bronze Horseman Alexander Pushkin 1837 Russian Russian
4082 Diary Of A Madman Nikolai Gogol 1835 Russian Russian
4091 The Little Tragedies Alexander Pushkin 1832 Russian Russian
4106 Wolfskin Hans Lebert 1960 Austrian German
4114 The Old Woman Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4176 Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen 1867 Norwegian Norwegian
4199 The Mysterious Portrait Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4205 The Arabian Nightmare Robert Irwin 1983 British English
4219 Heracles Euripides -416 Greek Ancient greek
4225 Orestes Euripides -408 Greek Ancient greek
4259 The Father August Strindberg 1887 Swedish Swedish
4268 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4310 The Lurking Fear And Other Stories H. P. Lovecraft 1923 American English
4372 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4400 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
4483 The Duchess Of Malfi John Webster 1623 British English
4608 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4623 The Bride Of Lammermoor Sir Walter Scott 1819 Scottish English
4638 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4763 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4784 Ice Anna Kavan 1967 British English
4822 The Poet And The Lunatics G. K. Chesterton 1929 British English
4934 The Terror Dan Simmons 2007 American English
4941 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
5000 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
5002 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
5014 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
5046 The Sandman E. T. A. Hoffmann 1816 German German
5160 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5228 The Green Face Gustav Meyrink 1916 German German
5233 Dark Feasts Ramsey Campbell 1987 British English
5271 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5327 A Storm Of Wings M. John Harrison 1980 British English
5362 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5362 Hölderlin Peter Härtling 1976 German German
5413 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
5427 At Night All Blood Is Black David Diop 2018 French French
5474 The Unicorn Iris Murdoch 1963 British English
5527 Not After Midnight Daphne du Maurier 1971 British English
5531 The Sufferings Of Prince Sternenhoch Ladislav Klíma 1928 Czech Czech
5836 Six Tragedies Seneca 54 Roman Latin
5840 The Grotesque Patrick McGrath 1989 British English
5863 The Changeling Thomas, William Rowley Middleton 1622 British English
5899 The Ghost Sonata August Strindberg 1907 Swedish Swedish
5916 Our Lord Don Quixote Miguel de Unamuno 1935 Spanish Spanish
5909 Thomas The Obscure Maurice Blanchot 1941 French French
5958 House Of Hunger Dambudzo Marechera 1978 Zimbabwean English
5967 Incarnate Ramsey Campbell 1983 British English
6005 Die Niederschrift Des Gustav Anias Horn Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
6005 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6005 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6005 Van Gogh Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
6132 The Fool In Christ Gerhart Hauptmann 1910 German German
6200 Tóték István Örkény 1967 Hungarian Hungarian
6236 The Cannibal John Hawkes 1949 American English
6257 Omensetter's Luck William H. Gass 1966 American English
6303 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
6327 The Day Of Creation J. G. Ballard 1987 British English
6476 War & War László Krasznahorkai 1999 Hungarian Hungarian
6535 The Fog James Herbert 1975 British English
6637 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6675 Uzumaki Junji Ito 1998 Japanese Japanese
6679 The Imago Sequence And Other Stories Laird Barron 2007 American English
6699 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
6746 The Seven Solitudes Of Lorsa Lopez Sony Labou Tansi 1985 Congolese French
6846 The Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce 1970 American English
6933 The Tell Tale Heart And Other Writings Edgar Allan Poe 1843 American English
6962 The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 1989 American English
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
6992 Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker 1996 British English
6996 Dina's Book Herbjørg Wassmo 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
7034 Madness And Civilization Michel Foucault 1961 French French
7085 Nothing Like the Sun Anthony Burgess 1964 British English
7140 E. Luminata Diamela Eltit 1983 Chilean Spanish
7159 Midnight Sun Ramsey Campbell 1990 British English
7216 Saul Vittorio Alfieri 1782 Italian Italian
7216 The Spanish Tragedy Thomas Kyd 1587 British English
7216 The Chimeras Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
7216 Aurelia Gerard de Nerval 1855 French French
7216 Death's Jest Book Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1850 British English
7216 Poems Of Thomas Lovell Beddoes Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1851 British English
7216 The Poems And Plays Of Thomas Wade Thomas Wade 1800 British English
7216 Naked Masks Luigi Pirandello 1922 Italian Italian
7216 Orphic Songs Dino Campana 1914 Italian Italian
7216 The Wheel Of Fire George Wilson Knight 1930 British English
7216 Selected Tales Leonid Andreyev 1900 Russian Russian
7216 Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead Barbara Comyns 1954 British English
7612 Aunt Julia And The Script Writer Mario Vargas Llosa 1977 Peruvian Spanish
7717 Selected Writings Antonin Artaud 1947 French French