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
15908 The Flagellants Carlene Hatcher Polite 1966 American English
15908 Happy Days Samuel Beckett 1961 French English
15908 An Inquiry Into The Good Nishida Kitarō 1911 Japanese Japanese
15908 Idealism And The Endgame Of Theory F. W. J. Schelling 1800 German German
15908 The Living Thoughts Of Kierkegaard Soren Kierkegaard 1938 Danish English
15908 Ushant Conrad Aiken 1952 Ushant English
15908 Seven Types Of Ambiguity William Empson 1930 British English
15908 The Air Conditioned Nightmare Henry Miller 1945 American English
15908 One Moonlit Night Caradog Prichard 1961 Welsh Welsh
15884 água Viva Clarice Lispector 1973 Brazilian Portuguese
15908 My Carso Scipio Slataper 1912 Italian Italian
15908 La Vita Operosa Massimo Bontempelli 1931 Italian Italian
15908 Childhood Of Nivasio Dolcemare Alberto Savinio 1938 Italian Italian
15908 The Collected Stories Dylan Thomas 1934 Welsh English
15908 My Heart Else Lasker-Schüler 1911 German German
15908 Michael Robartes And The Dancer W.B. Yeats 1921 Irish English
15908 The Double Hook Sheila Watson 1959 Canadian English
15908 The Colossus Of Maroussi Henry Miller 1941 American English
16506 An Apprenticeship Or The Book Of Pleasures Clarice Lispector 1969 Brazilian Portuguese
15908 A House And Its Head Ivy Compton-Burnett 1935 British English
15908 At Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
15908 Montage Of A Dream Deferred Langston Hughes 1951 American English
15908 Fourteenth Of October Bryher 1952 British English
16614 Casa De Campo José Donoso 1978 Chilean Spanish
16531 The Red Laugh Leonid Andreyev 1904 Russian English
16590 Typhoon Joseph Conrad 1902 British English
16727 The Skin Of Our Teeth Thornton Wilder 1942 American English
16737 Guignol's Band I et II Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1944 French French
16635 The Red Carnation Elio Vittorini 1948 Italian Italian
16711 El Quadern Gris Josep Pla 1966 Spanish Catalan
16629 100 Selected Poems E. E. Cummings 1954 American English
16765 Hills Like White Elephants Ernest Hemingway 1927 American English
16792 Schoolgirl Osamu Dazai 1939 Japanese Japanese
16673 Der Spaziergang Robert Walser 1917 Swiss German
17150 Facts of Life Maureen Howard 1965 American English
17150 Art and Culture Clement Greenberg 1961 American English
17150 Collected Poems 1912-1944 Hilda Doolittle 1983 American English
17150 Harlequin Rex Owen Marshall 1999 New Zealander English
17150 Adam's Breed Radclyffe Hall 1926 British English
17150 Doctor Copernicus John Banville 1976 Irish English
17099 Terminal Innocence Klaus Rifbjerg 1958 Danish Unknown
16959 Orpheus Jean Cocteau 1926 French French
16796 The Pound Era Hugh Kenner 1971 Canadian English
17150 Symbols Of Modernity Abdul Amir Khadir Unknown Unknown
17150 Stick Out Your Tongue Ma Jian 1987 Chinese Chinese
17049 Pierre Or The Ambiguities Herman Melville 1852 American English
17150 Men In The Off Hours Anne Carson 2000 Canadian English
17150 El Metall Impur Julià de Jòdar 2006 Spanish Catalan
16886 The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Prestwick House 1925 American English
17150 The Imperfect Life Of T. S. Eliot Lyndall Gordon 1998 British English
17150 Aracoeli Elsa Morante 1982 Italian Italian
17150 Gli Anni Impossibili Romano Bilenchi 1958 Italian Italian
17135 San Manuel Bueno, Mártir Miguel de Unamuno 1931 Spanish Spanish
17150 Memoirs Of An Anti Semite Gregor von Rezzori 1979 Multiple German
17150 Coup De Grâce Sofia Ajram 2024 Unknown Unknown
17150 Give My Regards To Eighth Street Morton Feldman 2000 American English
17150 Modern Poetry Diane Seuss 2024 Unknown English
17150 Ghost Pains Jessi Jesewska Stevens 2024 Unknown English
17150 I Was Working Ariel Yelen 2024 Unknown English
17150 Scattered Snows, To The North Carl Phillips 2024 Unknown English
17150 Between The Night And Its Music A.B. Spellman 2024 Unknown Unknown
17150 Slaveroad John Edgar Wideman 2024 American English
17150 Drypoint Jamie McKendrick 2024 British English
17150 Fratriarchy Juliet Mitchell 2024 British Unknown
17150 Things Felt But Not Quite Expressed Sohrab Hura 2024 Unknown Unknown
17150 La Défaite De L'occident Emmanuel Todd 2024 French French
17150 Concerning The Future Of Souls Joy Williams 2024 Unknown English
17150 Freaks Out! Luke Haines 2024 Unknown English
17150 Our Concealed Ballast Marian Macken 2024 Unknown English
17150 May Our Joy Endure Kevin Lambert 2022 Canadian French
17150 Storm Pegs Jen Hadfield 2024 British English
17150 Hereafter Vona Groarke 2022 Irish English
17150 Rites Of Spring Modris Eksteins 1989 Canadian English
17150 Babička Ivana Gibová Slovak Slovak
17150 Ľútostivosť Stanislav Rakús 2021 Slovak Slovak
17150 First And Last Love Pavel Vilikovský 2005 Slovak Slovak
17150 Čarovný Papagáj A Iné Gýče Pavel Vilikovský 2005 Slovak Slovak
17150 The Cavemen Chronicle Mihkel Mutt 2012 Estonian Estonian
17150 Flesh Coloured Dominoes Zigmunds Skujiņš 1999 Latvian Latvian
17150 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17067 The Great Wall Of China Franz Kafka 1931 Austrian German
17150 Naples 1925 Martin Mittelmeier 2024 Unknown German
17150 Plato At The Googleplex Rebecca Goldstein 2014 American English
17150 Mayakovsky's Revolver Matthew Dickman 2012 American English
17034 The World As Will And Representation, Volume Ii Arthur Schopenhauer 1844 German German
16985 Rosa Knut Hamsun 1908 Norwegian Norwegian
17150 Morgon Og Kveld Jon Fosse 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
17150 Day Michael Cunningham American Unknown
17150 A Shining Jon Fosse Unknown Norwegian
16873 Tears And Saints Emil Cioran 1937 Romanian French
17150 White Egrets Derek Walcott 2010 Saint Lucian English
17150 Breaking And Entering Joy Williams 1988 American English
17150 Kafka Gilles Deleuze 1975 French French
17054 Tujec / Kuga Albert Camus 1942 French French
17150 This January Tale Bryher 1966 British English
17150 The Pensive Citadel Victor Brombert 2023 Unknown Unknown
17150 Schoenberg Harvey Sachs 2023 Unknown English
17150 Lament For Julia Susan Taubes 2023 Unknown English
17150 The Fawn Magda Szabó 2023 Hungarian Hungarian
17150 Picasso The Foreigner Annie Cohen‑Solal 2023 Unknown French
17150 Forbidden Notebook Alba de Céspedes 2023 Italian Italian
17150 This Must Be The Place Maggie O'Farrell 2016 British English
17150 The Naked Heart Peter Gay 1995 American English
17150 Die, My Love Ariana Harwicz 2012 Argentinian Spanish
16823 Sun And Steel Yukio Mishima 1968 Japanese Japanese
17150 Saint Joan Of The Stockyards Bertolt Brecht 1931 German German
17150 Complete Critical Prose And Letters Osip Mandelstam 1997 Russian Russian
17150 Selected Writings Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
17150 Six Early Stories Thomas Mann 1997 German German
17150 Earthlight André Breton 1923 French French
17150 Modern Russian Poetry Vladimir Markov, Merrill Sparks 1967 Unknown English
17150 The Blue Between Sky And Water Susan Abulhawa 2015 American English
17006 The Seed Tarjei Vesaas 1940 Norwegian Norwegian
17150 Seven Japanese Tales Jun'ichirō Tanizaki Japanese Japanese
16879 Pedro Páramo / El Llano En Llamas Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
17128 The Anarchist Banker Pessoa 1922 Portuguese Portuguese
17126 A Farewell To Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 American English
17150 Todos Os Contos Clarice Lispector 2015 Brazilian Portuguese