The Greatest Postmodern 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
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
838 The Book of Daniel E. L. Doctorow 1971 American English
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
841 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
869 Woodcutters Thomas Bernhard 1984 Austrian German
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
915 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
936 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
991 Macunaíma Mario de Andrade 1928 Brazilian Portuguese
999 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1012 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
1020 Slouching Towards Bethlehem Joan Didion 1968 American English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1026 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
1061 The Hothouse Wolfgang Koeppen 1953 German German
1078 Death on Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1936 French French
1079 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
1093 The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera 1979 Czech Czech
1095 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
1107 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
1116 Hadrian the Seventh Frederick Rolfe 1904 British English
1136 The Black Prince Iris Murdoch 1973 British English
1139 The Unquiet Grave Cyril Connolly 1944 British English
1147 Dialectic Of Enlightenment Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer 1944 German German
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1166 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1171 Residence on Earth Pablo Neruda 1933 Chilean Spanish
1173 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
1179 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1191 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1210 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1213 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1217 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1223 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1242 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis José Saramago 1984 Portuguese Portuguese
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1271 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1272 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1280 The Death of Artemio Cruz Carlos Fuentes 1962 Mexican Spanish
1281 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1286 The Invention Of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares 1940 Argentinian Spanish
1295 Phenomenology of Mind G. W. F. Hegel 1807 German German
1325 A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark 1988 British English
1335 Kiss of the Spider Woman Manuel Puig 1976 Argentinian Spanish
1347 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
1359 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French
1363 The Liberal Imagination Lionel Trilling 1950 American English
1373 Winter's Tale Mark Helprin 1983 American English
1374 Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess 1980 British English
1375 The Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima 1965 Japanese Japanese
1387 Gödel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1979 American English
1394 Soldiers of Salamis Javier Cercas 2001 Spanish Spanish
1411 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1414 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
1421 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
1422 The Sot-Weed Factor John Barth 1960 American English
1424 Our Ancestors Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
1443 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English
1447 Minima Moralia Theodor Adorno 1951 German German
1454 Pushkin House Andrey Bitov 1978 Russian Russian
1456 Flights Olga Tokarczuk 2007 Polish Polish
1457 Deliver Us Luigi Meneghello 1963 Italian Italian
1472 The Beauty Of The Husband Anne Carson 2001 Canadian English
1486 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1492 The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Vladimir Nabokov 1941 Russian English
1525 The Late Mattia Pascal Luigi Pirandello 1904 Italian Italian
1527 The Confidence Man Herman Melville 1857 American English
1530 Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal 1968 American English
1533 Dreamtigers Jorge Luis Borges 1960 Argentinian Spanish
1534 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1551 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1552 Waterland Graham Swift 1983 British English
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1564 G. John Berger 1972 British English
1565 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1587 Past Continuous Yaakov Shabtai 1977 Israeli Hebrew
1591 Wry-Blue Loves Tristan Corbière 1873 French French
1595 The Forbidden Kingdom Jan Jacob Slauerhoff 1932 Dutch Dutch
1597 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 American English
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1625 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
1630 Halbzeit Martin Walser 1960 German German
1631 Acquainted With Grief Carlo Emilio Gadda 1963 Italian Italian
1674 London Fields Martin Amis 1989 British English
1685 Burr Gore Vidal 1973 American English
1687 The Hearing Trumpet Leonora Carrington 1974 British English
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1710 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1716 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
1722 The Joke Milan Kundera 1967 Czech Czech
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1732 Tender Buttons Gertrude Stein 1914 American English
1737 Exercises in Style Raymond Queneau 1947 French French
1738 The Bedbug And Selected Poetry Vladimir Mayakovsky 1920 Russian Russian