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
10528 Of Grammatology Jacques Derrida 1967 French French
10593 Unseen Wings Stanton A. Coblentz 1949 American English
10609 The Natural Bernard Malamud 1952 American English
10689 Consent Jill Ciment 2024 American English
10733 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov 1995 Russian English
10740 Imagine Me Gone Adam Haslett 2016 American English
10747 Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner 1968 British English
10748 The Collected Poems 1931 1987 Czesław Miłosz 1988 Polish Polish
10781 Act Of The Damned António Lobo Antunes 1985 Portuguese Portuguese
10829 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10876 The Vitals Tracy Sorensen 2023 Unknown English
10876 The Pole And Other Stories J. M. Coetzee 2023 South African English
10896 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
10898 Hotel Splendid Marie Redonnet 1986 French French
10935 Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins 1966 Irish English
10945 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
11002 Friend Of My Youth Alice Munro 1990 Canadian English
11022 Alphabetical Diaries Sheila Heti 2024 Unknown Unknown
11048 The Complete Plays of T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1969 British English
11089 The Pious Dance Klaus Mann 1926 German German
11089 Perrudja Hans Henny Jahnn 1929 German German
11089 The Age Of The Fish Ödön von Horváth 1937 Unknown Unknown
11089 Berlin Childhood Around 1900 Walter Benjamin 1950 German German
11089 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11089 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11163 Krilon Eyvind Johnson 1941 Swedish Swedish
11221 Malpertuis Jean Ray 1943 Belgian French
11242 Liberty Or Love! Robert Desnos 1929 French French
11304 The Book Of Sins Chen Xiwo 2014 Chinese Chinese
11311 No Place On Earth Christa Wolf 1979 German German
11322 Natt I Marknadstältet Lars Ahlin 1953 Swedish Swedish
11335 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
11335 Kleinstadtnovelle Ronald M. Schernikau 1980 German German
11335 The Father Of A Murderer Alfred Andersch 1980 German German
11363 Against Poets Witold Gombrowicz Polish Polish
11363 My Love Ishikawa Takuboku Japanese Japanese
11404 Big Sur Jack Kerouac 1962 American English
11421 Din Livsfrukt Lars Ahlin 1955 Swedish Swedish
11431 Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrung Mit Georg Trakls Gedicht Franz Fühmann 1982 German German
11545 Enemies of Promise Cyril Connolly 1938 British English
11568 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
11580 Hitchhiking Gabriele Eckart 1986 German Unknown
11618 Collected Poems Gunnar Ekelöf 1960 Swedish Swedish
11661 Conrad In The Nineteenth Century Ian Watt 1979 British English
11661 An Arrow In The Wall Andrey Voznesensky 1987 Russian Russian
11661 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11866 The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde Audre Lorde 1997 American English
11870 Within A Budding Grove Marcel Proust 1919 French French
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
12040 Charles Bovary, Country Doctor Jean Améry 1992 Unknown German
12040 Krieg Ohne Schlacht Heiner Müller 1992 German German
12047 Landing Light Don Paterson 2003 British English
12076 Basti Intizar Husain 1979 Pakistani Urdu
12083 John Dollar Marianne Wiggins 1989 American English
12112 Hotel Lautréamont John Ashbery 1992 American English
12198 I Racconti Alberto Moravia 1952 Italian Italian
12231 The Karnau Tapes Marcel Beyer 1995 German German
12325 The Journals Of John Cheever John Cheever 1991 American English
12325 The Ant And The Peacock Helena Cronin 1991 British English
12325 The Lost Upland W. S. Merwin 1992 American English
12325 Outerbridge Reach Robert Stone 1992 American English
12325 The Fate Of The Elephant Douglas H. Chadwick 1992 American English
12325 The Island Gustaw Herling 1958 Polish Polish
12325 Mazurka For Two Dead Men Camilo José Cela 1983 Spanish Spanish
12325 Overcoming Law Richard A. Posner 1995 American English
12440 Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee 1962 American English
12656 The Spiral Ascent Edward Upward British English
12717 Drowning Yu Dafu 1921 Chinese Chinese
12747 Ripples Across Stagnant Water Li Jieren 1935 Chinese Chinese
12793 Echine Philippe Djian 1982 French French
13135 Katherine Mansfield Gerri Kimber 2025 Unknown English
13255 公墓 Mu Shiying 1933 Chinese Chinese
13277 This Blinding Absence Of Light Tahar Ben Jelloun 2001 French French
13308 倪煥之 Ye Shengtao 1928 Chinese Chinese
13499 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13360 Eupalinos, Or The Architect Paul Valéry 1921 French French
13360 Harmonium Wallace Stevens 1923 American English
13360 Blast I Wyndham Lewis 1914 British English
13360 Infants Of The Spring Wallace Thurman 1932 American English
13360 The Naked Year Boris Pilnyak 1922 Russian Russian
13360 The Time Regulation Institute Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar 1954 Turkish Turkish
13360 The Unpossessed Tess Slesinger 1934 American English
13522 Island Aldous Huxley 1962 British English
13600 Le Chèvrefeuille, Le Purgatoire, Le Chapitre Xiii Thierry Sandre French French
13711 The Fruit Thief Peter Handke 2017 Austrian German
13712 Creative Evolution Henri Bergson 1907 French French
13712 The Aerodrome Rex Warner 1941 British English
13738 Song Never to End Nelson I. Wu 1959 Unknown Unknown
13742 Darconville's Cat Alexander Theroux 1981 American English
13739 The Late Bourgeois World Nadine Gordimer 1966 South African English
13753 Documents of Modern Art Robert Motherwell 1944 American English
13804 The Drunkard Liu Yichang 1963 Chinese Chinese
13806 In Between The Sheets Ian McEwan 1978 British English
13879 First Love And Other Shorts Samuel Beckett 1970 French French
13933 The Body William Sansom 1949 British English
14041 Durcheinandertal Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1989 Swiss German
14061 David Bomberg Richard Cork 1987 British English
14389 Rivers and Mountains John Ashbery 1966 American English
14519 Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara Frank O'Hara 1971 American English
14770 The Tree Of Heaven May Sinclair 1917 British English
14871 The Common Reader Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
14887 Black Spring Henry Miller 1936 American English
14984 Nova Express William S. Burroughs 1964 American English
14984 A Disaffection James Kelman 1989 Scottish English
14984 Jejuri Arun Kolatkar 1976 Indian English
14984 The Crisis Of Narration Byung-Chul Han 2023 German German
14984 Women Without Men Shahrnush Parsipur 1989 Iranian Persian
14984 Death In Spring Merce Rodoreda 1986 Spanish Catalan
15648 Peter Whiffle Carl Van Vechten 1922 American English
15728 Passionate Journey Frans Masereel 1919 Belgian German
15799 Collected Poems Of T. S. Eliot 1909 1935 T. S. Eliot 1936 American English
15775 The Morning Is Near Us Susan Glaspell 1940 American English
15814 Virginia Woolf's Diaries Virginia Woolf 1977 British English
15854 Tropic Of Capricorn Henry Miller 1939 American English
15865 The Collected Poems Of W.B. Yeats W.B. Yeats 1933 Irish English
15846 Swanns Värld Marcel Proust 1913 French French
15872 Poems By Walt Whitman Walt Whitman 1886 American English
15902 Philosophy of Modern Music Theodor Adorno 1949 German German
15902 The Prussian Officer D. H. Lawrence 1914 British English
15902 Selected Poems Gwendolyn Brooks 1963 American English