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
1937 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
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2023 Elizabeth Costello J. M. Coetzee 2003 South African English
2028 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
2031 The Riddle Of The Universe Ernst Haeckel 1899 German German
2053 Spain, Take This Chalice from Me César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
2057 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
2059 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
2061 The Last World Christoph Ransmayr 1988 Austrian German
2063 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
2064 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
2066 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
2082 Santa Evita Tomás Eloy Martínez 1995 Argentinian Spanish
2083 The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris May Lessing 1974 British English
2084 Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 1996 American English
2095 Elias, Or The Fight With The Nightingales Maurice Gilliams 1936 Belgian Dutch
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2116 Siebenkäs Jean Paul 1796 German German
2116 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2132 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 1962 American English
2140 The Interrogation J. M. G. Le Clezio 1963 French French
2147 Aniara Harry Martinson 1956 Swedish Swedish
2159 Soul and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1999 Russian Russian
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2168 Terra Nostra Carlos Fuentes 1975 Mexican Spanish
2175 Paris Spleen Charles Baudelaire 1869 French French
2179 The Oostakker Poems Hugo Claus 1955 Belgian Dutch
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
2208 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2224 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
2226 Operation Shylock Philip Roth 1993 American English
2235 The Futurological Congress Stanislaw Lem 1971 Polish Polish
2241 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
2246 The Bald Soprano Eugène Ionesco 1950 French French
2256 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
2257 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2259 Advertisements for Myself Norman Mailer 1959 American English
2262 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
2266 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2287 The History of the Siege of Lisbon José Saramago 1989 Portuguese Portuguese
2290 Arcadia Tom Stoppard 1993 British English
2304 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
2308 The Dead Father Donald Barthelme 1975 American English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2320 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2323 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
2325 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2334 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2335 Libra Don DeLillo 1988 American English
2340 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2347 Poems Of Louis Aragon Louis Aragon 1920 French French
2350 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2351 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2359 Bartleby & Co Enrique Vila-Matas 2000 Spanish Spanish
2367 The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin 1982 German German
2372 The Vatican Cellars André Gide 1914 French French
2384 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
2391 Beyond Sleep W.F. Hermans 1966 Dutch Dutch
2392 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2406 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2412 Loitering With Intent Muriel Spark 1981 British English
2413 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956 American English
2425 Soul Mountain Xingjian Gao 1990 Chinese Chinese
2428 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead 1999 American English
2438 Puckoon Spike Milligan 1963 Irish English
2445 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2469 Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989 American English
2477 L'acacia Claude Simon 1989 French French
2481 Blood and Guts in High School Kathy Acker 1978 American English
2492 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2507 The Abyss Marguerite Yourcenar 1968 French French
2512 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
2514 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2530 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2559 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2572 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2581 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2587 Red Shift Alan Garner 1973 British English