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
4606 Verzamelde Gedichten Lucebert 1957 Dutch Dutch
4609 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4621 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4624 The Abyss Fernando Vallejo 2001 Colombian Spanish
4637 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4653 True West Sam Shepard 1980 American English
4654 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4661 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4665 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4663 Dusklands J. M. Coetzee 1974 South African English
4663 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4681 The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1924 American English
4687 In Search Of The Miraculous P.D. Ouspensky 1947 Russian English
4707 Faserland Christian Kracht 1995 German German
4710 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
4711 Flesh Brigid Brophy 1962 British English
4723 Mission Box Aris Alexandrou 1974 Greek Greek
4733 The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation M. T. Anderson 2006 American English
4742 Willard and His Bowling Trophies Richard Brautigan 1975 American English
4749 The Glamour Christopher Priest 1984 British English
4762 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4763 Metropole Ferenc Karinthy 1970 Hungarian Hungarian
4767 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4778 Helping Verbs Of The Heart Peter Esterhazy 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
4792 Corporale Paolo Volponi 1974 Italian Italian
4803 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4808 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4813 Happy Moscow Andrey Platonov 1991 Russian Russian
4819 The Malacia Tapestry Brian Aldiss 1976 British English
4819 Hotel De Dream Emma Tennant 1976 British English
4824 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
4828 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4835 The Cream Of The Jest James Branch Cabell 1917 American English
4856 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4861 Het Leven Is Verrukkulluk Remco Campert 1961 Dutch Dutch
4868 The Ego And Its Own Max Stirner 1844 German German
4873 Tache De Catifea Ștefan Agopian 1981 Romanian Romanian
4878 Heroes And Tombs Ernesto Sábato 1961 Argentinian Spanish
4878 L'instant Fatal Raymond Queneau 1948 French French
4888 Natura Morta Josef Winkler 2001 Unknown German
4891 Nearer To Thee Gerard Reve 1966 Dutch Dutch
4899 The Memorandum Vaclav Havel 1965 Czech Czech
4937 The Smile Of The Unknown Mariner Vincenzo Consolo 1976 Italian Italian
4939 In the Heart of the Country J. M. Coetzee 1977 South African English
4945 The Breast Philip Roth 1972 American English
4947 Fata Morgana William Kotzwinkle 1977 American English
4949 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4952 Songs Of A Dead Dreamer And Grimscribe Thomas Ligotti 1985 American English
4955 Mr. Godly Beside Himself Gerald Bullett 1924 British English
4955 The Supermale Alfred Jarry 1902 French French
4986 Living In The Maniototo Janet Frame 1979 New Zealand English
4991 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5003 Feel Free Zadie Smith 2018 British English
5006 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5009 Omtrent Deedee Hugo Claus 1963 Belgian Dutch
5010 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5019 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5023 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5028 The City & the City China Miéville 2009 British English
5030 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5030 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5039 Life is a Carawanserai Has Two Doors I Went in One I Came out the Other Emine Sevgi Özdamar 1992 Turkish German
5043 Flower Phantoms Ronald Fraser 1926 British English
5043 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5043 My First Two Thousand Years George Vierick 1928 American English
5043 Salome the Wandering Jewess George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1930 American English
5043 The Invincible Adam George Vierick, Paul Eldridge 1932 American English
5108 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5119 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5121 Creation Gore Vidal 1981 American English
5131 Die Vollidioten Eckhard Henscheid 1973 German German
5131 Triptych Claude Simon 1973 French English
5136 Before The Law Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
5170 Omniumgathum Jonathan Bacon, Steve Troyanovich 1976 Unknown Unknown
5171 Humour And Fantasy F. Anstey 1931 British Unknown
5188 The Night Life Of The Gods Thorne Smith 1931 American English
5233 Mouth Full Of Earth Branimir Scepanovic 1975 Montenegrin Serbo-croatian
5236 Holder of the World Bharati Mukherjee 1993 Indian English
5241 La Saga/ Fuga de J. B./ The Saga/ Escape of J.B. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester 1972 Spanish Spanish
5241 Concierto Barroco Alejo Carpentier 1974 Cuban Spanish
5241 The Life And Adventures Of Trobadora Beatrice Irmtraud Morgner 1974 German German
5254 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5254 The Harpole Report J. L. Carr 1972 British English
5258 Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler 1989 Canadian English
5280 At Last Edward St Aubyn 2011 British English
5284 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
5284 Tratament Fabulatoriu Mircea Nedelciu 1986 Romanian Romanian
5304 A Fairy Tale Of New York J. P. Donleavy 1973 Irish English
5304 My Search For Warren Harding Robert Plunket 1973 American English
5326 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5328 Pushkin Hills Sergei Dovlatov 1983 Russian Russian
5343 White Girls Hilton Als 2013 American English
5361 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5375 All Visitors Ashore C. K. Stead 1984 New Zealand English
5386 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5388 St. Urbain's Horseman Mordecai Richler 1971 Canadian English
5405 I Love Dick Chris Kraus 1997 American English
5416 A Dictionary Of Maqiao Han Shaogong 1996 Chinese Chinese
5419 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5417 Clopotul Scufundat Livius Ciocârlie 1988 Romanian Unknown
5417 După-amiaza de sîmbătă Valeriu Cristea 1988 Romanian Romanian
5426 Revulsion Laszlo Németh 1937 Hungarian Unknown
5434 The Office J.J. Voskuil 1996 Dutch Dutch
5446 The Burn Vassily Aksyonov 1975 Russian Russian
5446 The Moscoviad Yuri Andrukhovych 1993 Ukrainian Ukrainian
5446 Vor Den Vätern Sterben Die Söhne Thomas Brasch 1977 German German
5465 In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields Bernard-Marie Koltès 1986 French French
5474 Zero Ignácio De Loyola Brandão 1974 Brazilian Portuguese
5476 Fado Alexandrino António Lobo Antunes 1983 Portuguese Portuguese
5476 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5485 Sillabari Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
5500 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5508 Dreams And Stones Magdalena Tulli 1995 Polish Polish
5511 Riders In The Chariot Patrick White 1961 Australian English
5523 A Humument Tom Phillips 1970 British English
5529 The Essential Kafka Franz Kafka 1913 Czech German
5529 Velbloud Uchem Jehl František Langer 1923 Czech Czech
5529 Cesta K Mrazu Jiří Orten 1941 Czech Czech
5529 Prométheova Játra Jiří Kolář 1950 Czech Czech
5529 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech