The Greatest Tragedy 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
817 Rickshaw Boy Lao She 1936 Chinese Chinese
832 The Last Of The Just André Schwarz-Bart 1959 French French
843 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
931 The House by the Medlar Tree Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
937 The Sea Wall Marguerite Duras 1950 French French
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
963 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
970 The Maias Eça de Queirós 1888 Portuguese Portuguese
978 The History Of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray 1852 British English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1008 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1031 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1036 The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony Henry Handel Richardson 1917 Australian English
1047 The Egoist George Meredith 1879 British English
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English
1084 Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
1087 Home and the World Rabindranath Tagore 1916 Indian Bengali
1107 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
1108 Chaka Thomas Mofolo 1925 South African Sesotho
1109 Othello William Shakespeare 1603 British English
1113 The Christmas Oratorio Göran Tunström 1983 Swedish Swedish
1119 The Street Ann Petry 1946 American English
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1125 Philoctetes Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1126 Women of Trachis Sophocles -450 Greek Ancient greek
1127 The Devil in the Flesh Raymond Radiguet 1923 French French
1137 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
1140 Nana Émile Zola 1880 French French
1160 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
1177 Phèdre Jean Racine 1677 French French
1186 Tristan Gottfried von Strassburg 1210 German Middle high german
1228 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
1237 Jacob the Liar Jurek Becker 1969 German German
1241 The Life Before Us Romain Gary 1975 French French
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1260 The President Miguel Angel Asturias 1946 Guatemalan Spanish
1267 Billy Budd Herman Melville 1924 American English
1294 Peyton Place Grace Metalious 1956 American English
1300 The Guide R. K. Narayan 1958 Indian English
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1308 Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand 1897 French French
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1350 Seven Against Thebes Aeschylus -467 Greek Ancient greek
1351 The Suppliants Aeschylus -463 Greek Ancient greek
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1362 The Heart Of Midlothian Sir Walter Scott 1818 Scottish English
1365 Nectar in a Sieve Kamala Markandaya 1954 Indian English
1391 A Separate Peace John Knowles 1959 American English
1396 Pierre et Jean Guy de Maupassant 1888 French French
1402 The Seagull Anton Chekhov 1896 Russian Russian
1407 The Golovlyov Family Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin 1880 Russian Russian
1409 No Exit Jean Paul Sartre 1944 French French
1419 The Viceroys Federico De Roberto 1894 Italian Italian
1432 A Woman's Life Guy de Maupassant 1883 French French
1439 Édes Anna Dezső Kosztolányi 1926 Hungarian Hungarian
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1455 Antigone Jean Anouilh 1944 French French
1458 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers 1951 American English
1460 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1464 Little Dorrit Charles Dickens 1855 British English
1472 The Beauty Of The Husband Anne Carson 2001 Canadian English
1482 Eline Vere Louis Couperus 1889 Dutch Dutch
1504 Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey 1964 American English
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1521 The Robbers Friedrich Schiller 1781 German German
1541 The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron 1967 American English
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1555 Troilus And Criseyde Geoffrey Chaucer 1385 British Middle english
1560 Forest of the Hanged Liviu Rebreanu 1922 Romanian Romanian
1567 To Build A Fire Jack London 1902 American English
1569 Empire of the Sun J. G. Ballard 1984 British English
1586 Gijsbrecht Van Aemstel Joost van den Vondel 1637 Dutch Dutch
1610 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1616 Under the Yoke Ivan Vazov 1888 Bulgarian Bulgarian
1656 Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis 1925 American English
1668 Solitude Caterina Albert 1905 Spanish Catalan
1671 The Ordeal Of Richard Feverel George Meredith 1859 British English
1689 Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk Nikolai Leskov 1865 Russian Russian
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1711 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
1729 Requiem for a Dream Hubert Selby 1978 American English
1752 Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward 2013 American English
1756 Strange Fruit Lillian Smith 1944 American English
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1764 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
1766 The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1771 British English
1768 The Serious Game Hjalmar Soderberg 1912 Swedish Swedish
1770 The Emperor of Portugallia Selma Lagerlöf 1914 Swedish Swedish
1773 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore 1955 Irish English
1781 Juno And The Paycock Sean O'Casey 1924 Irish English
1795 Victory Joseph Conrad 1915 British English
1807 Beware Of Pity Stefan Zweig 1939 Austrian German
1820 Fontamara Ignazio Silone 1933 Italian Italian
1858 Terug naar Oegstgeest Jan Wolkers 1965 Dutch Dutch
1876 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
1910 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1918 The Lady Of The Camellias Alexandre Dumas 1848 French French
1942 The Land At The End Of The World António Lobo Antunes 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
1946 A Burnt Child Stig Dagerman 1948 Swedish Swedish
1954 They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Horace McCoy 1935 American English
1956 Lucifer Joost van den Vondel 1654 Dutch Dutch
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1986 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
1993 The Queen Of Spades Alexander Pushkin 1834 Russian Russian
2027 Quartet in Autumn Barbara Pym 1977 British English
2058 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
2071 The Assistant Bernard Malamud 1957 American English
2074 Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson 1994 American English