The Greatest Modernist Books of All Time

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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
1311 Boredom Alberto Moravia 1960 Italian Italian
1316 The Fountain Overflows Rebecca West 1956 British English
1339 The Artificial Silk Girl Irmgard Keun 1932 German German
1343 The Hamlet William Faulkner 1940 American English
1355 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1358 The Principle Of Hope Ernst Bloch 1954 German German
1359 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
1393 The Business of Living Cesare Pavese 1952 Italian Italian
1403 The Outsider Colin Wilson 1956 British English
1426 Mars Fritz Zorn 1977 Swiss German
1427 Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh 1930 British English
1431 Cakes And Ale Or, The Skeleton In The Cupboard W. Somerset Maugham 1930 British English
1441 The Cantos Ezra Pound 1933 American English
1447 Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno 1951 German German
1452 History And Class Consciousness Georg Lukacs 1923 German German
1463 Camera Obscura Nicolaas Beets 1839 Dutch Dutch
1468 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner William Faulkner 1950 American English
1473 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1478 The Shipyard Juan Carlos Onetti 1961 Uruguayan Spanish
1480 Divided Heaven Christa Wolf 1963 German German
1490 The Garden Party And Other Stories Katherine Mansfield 1922 New Zealand English
1502 The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born Ayi K. Armah 1968 Ghanaian English
1505 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1508 The Tower William Butler Yeats 1928 Irish English
1516 The Alberta Trilogy Cora Sandel 1926 Norwegian Norwegian
1516 The Bells of Basel Louis Aragon 1934 French French
1539 On the Genealogy of Morality Friedrich Nietzsche 1887 German German
1546 Poems Of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 1847 American English
1552 Waterland Graham Swift 1983 British English
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1558 Marius the Epicurean Walter Pater 1885 British English
1592 Niels Lyhne Jens Peter Jacobson 1880 Danish Danish
1593 Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys 1939 British English
1595 The Forbidden Kingdom Jan Jacob Slauerhoff 1932 Dutch Dutch
1607 Pan Knut Hamsun 1894 Norwegian Norwegian
1609 The Drowned World J. G. Ballard 1962 British English
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1611 Some Experiences Of An Irish R.M. E.Œ. Somerville, Martin Ross 1899 Irish English
1629 Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley 1928 British English
1633 In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1968 American English
1635 The Autumn of the Patriarch Gabriel García Márquez 1975 Colombian Spanish
1642 Song Of Myself Walt Whitman 1855 American English
1694 Cassandra Christa Wolf 1983 German German
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
1703 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 American English
1715 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1722 The Joke Milan Kundera 1967 Czech Czech
1724 Logbook George Seferis 1940 Greek Greek
1730 The Mouse And His Child Russell Hoban 1967 American English
1733 Tender Buttons Gertrude Stein 1914 American English
1738 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1780 Poems of Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda 1970 Chilean Spanish
1790 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
1810 The Weary Blues Langston Hughes 1926 American English
1824 The Engineer of Human Souls Josef Škvorecký 1977 Czech Czech
1825 Studies In The History Of The Renaissance Walter Pater 1873 British English
1832 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
1841 Kafka's Other Trial Elias Canetti 1969 Bulgarian German
1845 Drifting Cities Stratis Tsirkas 1960 Greek Greek
1860 Notebook Of A Return To The Native Land Aimé Césaire 1939 French French
1861 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
1868 Junky William S. Burroughs 1953 American English
1891 The Journal of Jules Renard Jules Renard 1887 French French
1893 The Soul of a New Machine Tracy Kidder 1981 American English
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1906 Red Sorghum Yan Mo 1986 Chinese Chinese
1921 Anglo Saxon Attitudes Angus Wilson 1956 British English
1922 Tropisms Nathalie Sarraute 1939 French French
1933 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
1936 Ask The Dust John Fante 1939 American English
1962 The Prose Of The Trans Siberian Blaise Cendrars 1913 French French
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
1969 Poppy And Memory Paul Celan 1950 German German
1970 The Freeloader Nescio 1916 Dutch Dutch
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1984 Little Titans Nescio 1918 Dutch Dutch
1999 The Poetry of Luis Cernuda Luis Cernuda 1901 Spanish Spanish
2011 Pincher Martin William Golding 1956 British English
2015 The Greater Hope Ilse Aichinger 1948 Austrian German
2016 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2019 The Berlin Stories Christopher Isherwood 1945 British English
2020 Journals André Gide 1948 French French
2021 Little Poet Nescio 1918 Dutch Unknown
2031 In Parenthesis David Jones 1937 British English
2031 Man In The Modern Age Karl Jaspers 1931 German German
2048 Amusing Ourselves To Death Neil Postman 1985 American English
2050 Momo Michael Ende 1973 German German
2054 Verses Herman Gorter 1890 Dutch Dutch
2057 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
2081 Στροφή George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2095 Parken En Woestijnen M. Vasalis 1940 Dutch Dutch
2100 Verzamelde Gedichten J.C. Bloem 1954 Dutch Dutch
2105 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
2132 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 1962 American English
2143 The Assault Harry Mulisch 1982 Dutch Dutch
2178 The Love Of The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald 1941 American English
2183 No Logo Naomi Klein 1999 Canadian English
2185 On Love Alain de Botton 1993 British English
2193 Envy Yury Olesha 1927 Russian Russian
2200 Death Of A Hero Richard Aldington 1929 British English
2236 Billiards at Half-Past Nine Heinrich Böll 1959 German German
2241 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
2266 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2265 The Murderess Alexandros Papadiamantis 1903 Greek Greek
2277 The Twelve Alexander Blok 1918 Russian Russian
2279 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2298 Poems Of George Seferis George Seferis 1931 Greek Greek
2301 Le Roman Inachevé Louis Aragon 1956 French French
2308 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2333 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2347 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2351 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2372 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2391 Beyond Sleep W.F. Hermans 1966 Dutch Dutch
2395 Maurice Guest Henry Handel Richardson 1908 Australian English