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
3637 The Queen's Tiara Carl Jonas Love Almqvist 1834 Swedish Swedish
3637 Trans-Atlantyk Witold Gombrowicz 1953 Polish Polish
3637 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3637 Pack My Bag Henry Green 1940 British English
3637 Blasting And Bombardiering Wyndham Lewis 1937 British English
3637 Being Geniuses Together Robert McAlmon 1938 American English
3637 Der Siebente Ring Stefan George 1907 German German
3637 Architecture Walter Gropius 1935 German German
3637 Fluss Ohne Ufer Hans Henny Jahnn 1949 German German
3637 L'après Midi D'un Faune Stéphane Mallarmé 1876 French French
3637 Visite D'un Poète Charles Ferdinand Ramuz 1927 Swiss French
3637 The Roads To Freedom Jean Paul Sartre 1945 French French
3637 The Road Into The Open Arthur Schnitzler 1908 Austrian German
3637 The Assistant Robert Walser 1908 Swiss German
3832 Stories Of Three Decades Thomas Mann 1936 German German
3833 Mannen utan väg Erik Lindegren 1942 Swedish Swedish
3833 Invocation Of The Great Bear Ingeborg Bachmann 1956 Austrian German
3840 Country Of Origin E. du Perron 1935 Dutch Dutch
3859 This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3860 Amal'eZulu B. W. Vilakazi 1945 South African Zulu
3872 The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922 American English
3880 Garden, Ashes Danilo Kiš 1965 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3882 Woe From Wit Alexander Griboyedov 1825 Russian Russian
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3888 Illywhacker Peter Carey 1985 Australian English
3892 Beauty On Earth Charles Ferdinand Ramuz 1927 French French
3895 The Planetarium Nathalie Sarraute 1959 French French
3916 The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore Marianne Moore 1967 American English
3928 The Vice-Consul Marguerite Duras 1966 French French
3932 Jacob's Room Virginia Woolf 1922 British English
3933 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3933 The Sun Is My Undoing Marguerite Steen 1941 British English
3946 Le Passé Simple Driss Chraibi 1954 Moroccan French
3952 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 My Mother's Sin Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 The Only Journey Of His Life Georgios Vizyinos 1887 Greek Greek
3952 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3952 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
3952 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
3952 The Great Chimera M. Karagatsis 1953 Greek Greek
3952 Γιούγκερμαν M. Karagatsis 1938 Greek Greek
3952 Ο Συνταγματάρχης Λιάπκιν M. Karagatsis 1933 Greek Greek
3952 Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες Kostas Karyotakis 1927 Greek Greek
3952 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3952 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
3952 Ο Εξώστης Nikos Kakhtitsis 1963 Greek Greek
3952 Life In The Tomb Stratis Myrivilis 1924 Greek Greek
3952 The Twelve Lays Of The Gypsy Kostis Palamas 1907 Greek Greek
3952 Ο Πεθαμένος και η Ανάσταση Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1949 Greek Greek
3952 Eroica Kosmas Politis 1937 Greek Greek
3952 The Moonlight Sonata Yannis Ritsos 1956 Greek Greek
3952 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3952 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
3952 Λυρικός Βίος Angelos Sikelianos 1938 Greek Greek
3952 Το Σόλο του Φίγκαρο Yiannis Skarimbas 1938 Greek Greek
3952 Η Γυναίκα της Ζακύνθου Dionysios Solomos 1829 Greek Greek
3952 The Complete Works Dionysios Solomos 1818 Greek Greek
3952 Το Τρίτο Στεφάνι Kostas Taktsis 1962 Greek Greek
3952 The End Of Our Small Town Dimitris Hatzis 1963 Greek Greek
3952 The Poems Of Dinos Christianopoulos Dinos Christianopoulos 1958 Greek Greek
3952 Difficult Nights Melpo Axioti 1938 Greek Greek
3952 The Disheveled Maidens Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu 1926 Romanian Romanian
3952 A Bach Concert Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu 1927 Romanian Romanian
3952 The Bed Of Procrustes Camil Petrescu 1933 Romanian Romanian
3952 Jocurile Daniei Anton Holban 1935 Romanian Romanian
4055 The Tunnel William H. Gass 1995 American English
4057 Gedichten J.H. Leopold 1912 Dutch Dutch
4057 Awater Martinus Nijhoff 1934 Dutch Dutch
4082 No Laughing Matter Angus Wilson 1967 British English
4085 Verzamelde Gedichten J.J. Slauerhoff 1931 Dutch Dutch
4085 Verzamelde Gedichten Gerrit Achterberg 1950 Dutch Dutch
4093 Matei Iliescu Radu Petrescu 1970 Romanian Romanian
4093 Biserica Neagră A.E. Baconsky 1970 Romanian Romanian
4097 Le Mauvais Sang Feu De Brousse à Trisse Coeur Tchicaya U. Tam'si 1955 Tchadian French
4098 Четвёртая проза Osip Mandelstam 1930 Russian Russian
4104 Die Schaukel Annette Kolb 1960 German German
4122 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4126 Ideas Multatuli 1862 Dutch Dutch
4126 Het Uur U Martinus Nijhoff 1936 Dutch Dutch
4132 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4135 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4136 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4139 Nedjma Kateb Yacine 1956 Algerian French
4148 The Tale Of Cross Eyed Lefty From Tula And The Steel Flea Nikolai Leskov 1881 Russian Russian
4152 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4174 Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen 1867 Norwegian Norwegian
4176 Shira S.Y. Agnon 1989 Israeli Hebrew
4177 Cheops J.H. Leopold 1936 Dutch Dutch
4177 Prometheus Carry van Bruggen 1919 Dutch Dutch
4197 The Mysterious Portrait Nikolai Gogol 1835 Ukrainian Russian
4199 Edisto Padgett Powell 1984 American English
4206 Luka Antun Šoljan 1969 Croatian Croatian
4212 Miss Sophie's Diary And Other Stories Ding Ling 1928 Chinese Chinese
4222 The Spectre Of Alexander Wolf Gaito Gazdanov 1947 French Russian
4226 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4232 Een Liefde Lodewijk van Deyssel 1887 Dutch Dutch
4232 Vormen Martinus Nijhoff 1924 Dutch Dutch
4232 Schuim En Asch J.J. Slauerhoff 1930 Dutch Dutch
4232 The Tears Of The Acacias W.F. Hermans 1949 Dutch Dutch
4251 Autumn Journal Louis MacNeice 1939 British English
4263 The Town Of N Leonid Dobychin 1935 Russian Russian
4270 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
4272 The Blue Book Mikhail Zoshchenko 1923 Russian Russian
4278 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4279 Poem Of The Mountain Marina Tsvetayeva 1924 Russian Russian
4280 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4283 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4293 The Castle franz kafka 1926 German German
4300 The Royal Hunt Dumitru Radu Popescu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4300 Supraviețuiri Radu Cosașu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4300 Istorii Insolite Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu 1973 Romanian Romanian
4308 Caprice Ronald Firbank 1917 British English
4308 The Polyglots William Gerhardie 1925 British English
4308 Pointed Roofs Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
4308 The Three Sisters May Sinclair 1914 British English
4308 Peace In War Miguel de Unamuno 1897 Spanish Spanish
4308 Afternoon Men Anthony Powell 1931 British English
4308 Three Soldiers John Dos Passos 1921 American English
4370 Frost Thomas Bernhard 1963 Austrian German
4375 The Truce Unknown 1963 Italian Spanish