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
4607 Verzamelde Gedichten Lucebert 1957 Dutch Dutch
4610 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4622 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4625 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4638 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4654 True West Sam Shepard 1980 American English
4655 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4662 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4666 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4664 Dusklands J. M. Coetzee 1974 South African English
4664 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4682 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4688 In Search Of The Miraculous P.D. Ouspensky 1947 Russian English
4708 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
4711 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
4712 Flesh Brigid Brophy 1962 British English
4724 Mission Box Aris Alexandrou 1974 Greek Greek
4734 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
4743 Willard and His Bowling Trophies Richard Brautigan 1975 American English
4750 The Glamour Christopher Priest 1984 British English
4763 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4764 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
4768 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4780 Helping Verbs Of The Heart Peter Esterhazy 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
4794 Corporale Paolo Volponi 1974 Italian Italian
4804 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4809 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4814 Happy Moscow Andrey Platonov 1991 Russian Russian
4820 The Malacia Tapestry Brian Aldiss 1976 British English
4820 Hotel De Dream Emma Tennant 1976 British English
4825 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4829 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4836 The Cream Of The Jest James Branch Cabell 1917 American English
4857 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4862 Het Leven Is Verrukkulluk Remco Campert 1961 Dutch Dutch
4869 The Ego And Its Own Max Stirner 1844 German German
4874 Tache De Catifea Ștefan Agopian 1981 Romanian Romanian
4879 Heroes And Tombs Ernesto Sábato 1961 Argentinian Spanish
4879 L'instant Fatal Raymond Queneau 1948 French French
4889 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4892 Nearer To Thee Gerard Reve 1966 Dutch Dutch
4900 The Memorandum Vaclav Havel 1965 Czech Czech
4939 The Smile Of The Unknown Mariner Vincenzo Consolo 1976 Italian Italian
4941 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4947 The Breast Philip Roth 1972 American English
4949 Fata Morgana William Kotzwinkle 1977 American English
4951 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4954 Songs Of A Dead Dreamer And Grimscribe Thomas Ligotti 1985 American English
4957 Mr. Godly Beside Himself Gerald Bullett 1924 British English
4957 The Supermale Alfred Jarry 1902 French French
4989 Living In The Maniototo Janet Frame 1979 New Zealand English
4994 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5006 Feel Free Zadie Smith 2018 British English
5009 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5012 Omtrent Deedee Hugo Claus 1963 Belgian Dutch
5013 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5022 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5026 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5031 The City & the City China Miéville 2009 British English
5033 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5033 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5042 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5046 Flower Phantoms Ronald Fraser 1926 British English
5046 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5046 My First Two Thousand Years George Vierick 1928 American English
5046 Salome the Wandering Jewess George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1930 American English
5046 The Invincible Adam George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1932 American English
5110 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5121 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5123 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5133 Die Vollidioten Eckhard Henscheid 1973 German German
5133 Triptych Claude Simon 1973 French English
5138 Before The Law Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
5172 Omniumgathum Jonathan Bacon, Steve Troyanovich 1976 Unknown Unknown
5173 Humour And Fantasy F. Anstey 1931 British Unknown
5190 The Night Life Of The Gods Thorne Smith 1931 American English
5234 Mouth Full Of Earth Branimir Scepanovic 1975 Montenegrin Serbo-croatian
5237 Holder of the World Bharati Mukherjee 1993 Indian English
5242 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5242 Concierto Barroco Alejo Carpentier 1974 Cuban Spanish
5242 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5255 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5255 The Harpole Report J. L. Carr 1972 British English
5259 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5281 At Last Edward St Aubyn 2011 British English
5285 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
5285 Tratament Fabulatoriu Mircea Nedelciu 1986 Romanian Romanian
5305 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5305 My Search For Warren Harding Robert Plunket 1973 American English
5327 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5329 Pushkin Hills Sergei Dovlatov 1983 Russian Russian
5344 White Girls Hilton Als 2013 American English
5362 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5376 All Visitors Ashore C. K. Stead 1984 New Zealand English
5388 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5390 St. Urbain's Horseman Mordecai Richler 1971 Canadian English
5407 I Love Dick Chris Kraus 1997 American English
5418 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5421 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5419 Clopotul Scufundat Livius Ciocârlie 1988 Romanian Unknown
5419 După-amiaza de sîmbătă Valeriu Cristea 1988 Romanian Romanian
5428 Revulsion Laszlo Németh 1937 Hungarian Unknown
5436 The Office J.J. Voskuil 1996 Dutch Dutch
5448 The Burn Vassily Aksyonov 1975 Russian Russian
5448 The Moscoviad Yuri Andrukhovych 1993 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5448 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5467 In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields Bernard-Marie Koltès 1986 French French
5476 Zero Ignácio De Loyola Brandão 1974 Brazilian Portuguese
5478 Fado Alexandrino António Lobo Antunes 1983 Portuguese Portuguese
5478 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5487 Sillabari Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
5502 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5510 Dreams And Stones Magdalena Tulli 1995 Polish Polish
5513 Riders In The Chariot Patrick White 1961 Australian English
5525 A Humument Tom Phillips 1970 British English
5531 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5531 Velbloud Uchem Jehl František Langer 1923 Czech Czech
5531 Cesta K Mrazu Jiří Orten 1941 Czech Czech
5531 Prométheova Játra Jiří Kolář 1950 Czech Czech
5531 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech