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
1745 Couples, Passersby Botho Strauß 1981 German German
1754 Changing Places David Lodge 1975 British English
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1762 Lady into Fox David Garnett 1922 British English
1782 The Wild Ass's Skin Honoré de Balzac 1831 French French
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1784 Marks of Identity Juan Goytisolo 1966 Spanish Spanish
1797 Texaco Patrick Chamoiseau 1992 Martinican French
1800 The Deptford Trilogy Robertson Davies 1970 Canadian English
1824 The Engineer of Human Souls Josef Škvorecký 1977 Czech Czech
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1832 Paradiso José Lezama Lima 1966 Cuban Spanish
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1836 Grendel John Gardner 1971 American English
1841 Kafka's Other Trial Elias Canetti 1969 Bulgarian German
1845 Drifting Cities Stratis Tsirkas 1960 Greek Greek
1855 The Order of Things Michel Foucault 1966 French French
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
1907 Consider The Lobster David Foster Wallace 2005 American English
1909 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
1912 World's End T. C. Boyle 1987 American English
1921 Anglo Saxon Attitudes Angus Wilson 1956 British English
1938 Geek Love Katherine Dunn 1989 American English
1953 Titus Alone Mervyn Peake 1959 British English
1959 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
1966 Truth And Method Hans-Georg Gadamer 1960 German German
1967 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
1970 The Freeloader Nescio 1916 Dutch Dutch
1975 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1980 Chapel Road Louis-Paul Boon 1953 Belgian Dutch
1984 Little Titans Nescio 1918 Dutch Dutch
1989 Your Face Tomorrow Javier Marias 2002 Spanish Spanish
1991 All about H. Hatterr G. V. Desani 1948 Indian English
2000 Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Mario Vargas Llosa 1977 Peruvian Spanish
2001 The Flamethrowers Rachel Kushner 2013 American English
2004 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
2018 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2024 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2029 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
2032 The Riddle Of The Universe Ernst Haeckel 1899 German German
2054 Spain, Take This Chalice from Me César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
2058 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
2060 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
2062 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
2064 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
2065 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
2067 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
2083 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2084 The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris May Lessing 1974 British English
2085 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2096 Elias, Or The Fight With The Nightingales Maurice Gilliams 1936 Belgian Dutch
2114 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2115 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2117 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2117 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2133 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 1962 American English
2141 The Interrogation J. M. G. Le Clezio 1963 French French
2148 Aniara Harry Martinson 1956 Swedish Swedish
2160 Soul and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1999 Russian Russian
2168 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2170 Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes 1975 Mexican Spanish
2176 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2180 The Oostakker Poems Hugo Claus 1955 Belgian Dutch
2181 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2193 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2205 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2209 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2219 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2225 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
2227 Operation Shylock Philip Roth 1993 American English
2236 The Futurological Congress Stanislaw Lem 1971 Polish Polish
2242 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
2247 The Bald Soprano Eugène Ionesco 1950 French French
2257 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
2258 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2260 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2263 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
2267 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2281 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2288 The History of the Siege of Lisbon José Saramago 1989 Portuguese Portuguese
2291 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2305 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
2309 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2311 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2312 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2322 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2325 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
2327 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2336 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2337 Libra Don DeLillo 1988 American English
2342 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2349 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2352 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2353 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2361 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2369 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2374 The Vatican Cellars André Gide 1914 French French
2386 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2393 Beyond Sleep W.F. Hermans 1966 Dutch Dutch
2394 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2408 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2414 Loitering With Intent Muriel Spark 1981 British English
2415 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956 American English
2427 Soul Mountain Xingjian Gao 1990 Chinese Chinese
2430 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead 1999 American English
2440 Puckoon Spike Milligan 1963 Irish English
2447 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2471 Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2479 L'acacia Claude Simon 1989 French French
2483 Blood and Guts in High School Kathy Acker 1978 American English
2494 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2509 The Abyss Marguerite Yourcenar 1968 French French
2514 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2516 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2532 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2559 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2573 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2582 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2588 Red Shift Alan Garner 1973 British English