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
6635 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6645 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek
6645 Simion Liftnicul Petru Cimpoeșu 2001 Romanian Romanian
6649 Tratado das Paixões da Alma António Lobo Antunes 1990 Portuguese Portuguese
6661 How It Is Samuel Beckett 1961 Irish French
6679 A Fraction Of The Whole Steve Toltz 2008 Australian English
6708 Knížka S červeným Obalem Alexandra Berková 1986 Czech Czech
6709 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
6710 Ooga-Booga Frederick Seidel 2006 American English
6716 Human, All Too Human Friedrich Nietzsche 1878 German German
6716 Track Ernst Bloch 1949 German Unknown
6730 Eat the Document Dana Spiotta 2006 American English
6736 Emergence Steven Johnson 2001 American English
6747 De Advocaat Van De Hanen A. F. Th. van der Heijden 1990 Dutch Dutch
6747 Hoffman's Hunger Leon de Winter 1990 Dutch Dutch
6754 I Hotel Karen Tei Yamashita 2010 American English
6765 Notes Of A Desolate Man Chu Tʽien-wen 1994 Taiwanese Chinese
6799 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
6800 Getting Into Death Thomas M. Disch 1973 American English
6806 America Jean Baudrillard 1986 French French
6811 Écrits Jacques Lacan 1966 French French
6814 The Owl's Absence Bae Suah 2010 Korean Korean
6837 Yellowface R. F. Kuang 2023 American English
6840 Other Inquisitions Jorge Luis Borges 1952 Argentinian Spanish
6846 Three Georges Perec 1991 French French
6871 The Field of Vision Wright Morris 1956 American English
6873 The End of the Story Lydia Davis 1995 American English
6889 Frisk Dennis Cooper 1991 American English
6927 Travesties Tom Stoppard 1974 British English
6943 La Poupée Russe Gheorghe Crăciun 2004 Romanian Unknown
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
6948 The Fantastic In Literature Eric S. Rabkin 1976 American English
6961 Mystiek Lichaam Frans Kellendonk 1986 Dutch Dutch
6963 Sheeper Irving Rosenthal 1967 American English
6969 Collected Shorter Poems W. H. Auden 1966 British English
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
6978 News From The Empire Fernando del Paso 1987 Mexican Spanish
6981 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6992 Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker 1996 British English
6992 A Light Comedy Eduardo Mendoza 1996 Spanish Spanish
6996 Le Théâtre Des Paroles Valère Novarina 1989 French French
7002 Fantasy Rosemary Jackson 1981 British English
7010 Variable Cloud Carmen Martín Gaite 1993 Spanish Spanish
7023 La Vida Exagerada De Martín Romaña Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1981 Peruvian Spanish
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7043 The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan 1973 American English
7046 The Children's Crusade Florina Ilis 2005 Romanian Romanian
7055 Golden Age Wang Xiaobo 1997 Chinese Chinese
7062 Then We Came To The End Joshua Ferris 2007 American English
7067 Adventures Of A Breath Hayam Abbas Al-Homi 1989 Egyptian Unknown
7067 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7070 Job Boj Bohumila Grögerová, Josef Hiršal 1991 Czech Czech
7072 Palimpsest Gore Vidal 1995 American English
7081 Hermina Sami Tchak 2003 French French
7086 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7098 Gli Imperdonabili Cristina Campo 1987 Italian Italian
7108 The Children Of The Dead Elfriede Jelinek 2024 Austrian German
7116 Malvinas Requiem Fogwill 1983 Argentine Spanish
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7120 The Color Of Summer Reinaldo Arenas 1991 Cuban Spanish
7130 Beauty Is A Wound Eka Kurniawan 2002 Indonesian Indonesian
7129 Knife Salman Rushdie 2024 British English
7131 Tales Of Neveryon Samuel R. Delany 1979 American English
7133 Desolation Angels Jack Kerouac 1965 American English
7140 E. Luminata Diamela Eltit 1983 Chilean Spanish
7162 Blind Argus Or The Fables Of The Memory Gesualdo Bufalino 1988 Italian Italian
7176 The Asylum Seeker Arnon Grunberg 2003 Dutch Dutch
7189 Close To The Knives David Wojnarowicz 1991 American English
7202 Gb84 David Peace 2004 British English
7205 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7212 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
7215 Selected Works Alfred Jarry 1901 French French
7215 Seven Dada Manifestoes Tristan Tzara 1924 French French
7215 Europe After The Rain Alan Burns 1965 British English
7215 Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane 1974 Australian English
7564 Selected Poems Frank O'Hara 1974 American English
7602 The Beginning Of Infinity David Deutsch 2011 British English
7604 Mourir M'enrhume Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
7605 Les Praticiens De L'infernal Pierre La Police 1993 French French
7623 Arturo, La Estrella Más Brillante Reinaldo Arenas 1984 Cuban Unknown
7626 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7631 Telephone Percival Everett 2020 American English
7632 When The Clock Broke John Ganz 2024 Unknown English
7640 The Literature Of Terror David Punter 1980 British English
7642 Fiskadoro Denis Johnson 1985 American English
7644 Fantasy And Mimesis Kathryn Hume 1984 American English
7649 Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr 2021 American English
7650 Angels In America Tony Kushner 1991 American English
7651 The Republic Of Nothing Lesley Choyce 1994 Canadian English
7653 Tropical Night Falling Manuel Puig 1988 Argentinian Spanish
7663 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
7691 Heroes Like Us Thomas Brussig 1995 German German
7698 La Orilla Oscura José María Merino 1985 Spanish Spanish
7702 Beatlebone Kevin Barry 2015 Irish English
7708 Mono Kuu Hitobito Yō Henmi 1994 Japanese Unknown
7724 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7724 Stupidity Rafael Spregelburd 2007 Argentinian Spanish
7731 The Story Of Harold Terry Andrews 1974 American English
7732 Despair Vladimir Nabokov 1934 Russian Russian
7738 Klíč Je Pod Rohožkou Vlastimil Třešňák 1995 Czech Czech
7742 My Life and My Life in the Nineties Lyn Hejinian 1980 American English
7752 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7783 Close To The Machine Ellen Ullman 1997 American English
7792 The Gay Science Friedrich Nietzsche 1882 German German
7802 Anno Dracula Kim Newman 1992 British English
7808 Twilight of the Superheroes Deborah Eisenberg 2006 American English
7827 Noci, Po Nichž Nepřichází Ráno J. H. Krchovský 1996 Czech Czech
7829 Purple America Rick Moody 1997 American English
7830 The Blue Flowers Raymond Queneau 1965 French French
7844 The Accidental Ali Smith 2005 British English
7852 L'organisation Jean Rolin 1996 French French
7860 The Plains Gerald Murnane 1982 Australian English
7876 Baumgartner Paul Auster 2023 American English
7894 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7899 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
7914 The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 2007 American English
7924 Myths Of The Near Future J. G. Ballard 1982 British English
7939 The Fourth World Diamela Eltit 1988 Chilean Spanish
7943 Lover Bertha Harris 1976 American English