The Greatest Eastern European Literature
This selection of European literature encompasses all literary forms, genres and periods. It includes works acclaimed by readers, writers, critics and scholars in Eastern Europe and around the world.
For this list, Eastern Europe is defined as including the countries of Albania, Austria, Belerus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine and several others, as well as their historical predecessors.
Russia, which straddles parts of Europe and Asia, is not included but has a separate page, The Greatest Russian Literature. Poland is included in Eastern Europe but also has its own page, The Greatest Polish Literature.
The Greatest Eastern European Literature focuses on the region's major creative works—such as novels, novellas, plays, long poetry and collections.
This list is updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the revision date when citing the list.
Latest update: August 16, 2025
The 99 greatest works of Eastern European literature
1501
Judita
by Marko Marulić, Croatia
Epic poem
1779
Fables and Parables
by Ignacy Krasicki, Poland
Poetry collection
1832
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story collection
1834
Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Foray in Lithuania
by Adam Mickiewicz, Poland
Epic poem; also known as Master Thaddeus, subtitled A Nobility's Tale of the Years 1811–1812, in Twelve Books of Verse; originally Pan Tadeusz, czyli ostatni zajazd na Litwie. Historia szlachecka z roku 1811 i 1812 we dwunastu księgach wierszem
1835
Taras Bulba
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Novella
1836
The Government Inspector
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Play, also known as The Inspector General
May
by Karel Hynek Mácha, Czechia
Long poem
1842
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Novel
1843
Petersburg Tales
by Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine
Story collection, including "Nevsky Prospect", "The Portrait", "Diary of a Madman", "The Nose" and "The Overcoat"
1853–1862
Kalev's Son
by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonia
Epic poem
1857
Indian Summer
by Adalbert Stifter, Austria
Novel
1884
With Fire and Sword
by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Poland
Novel
1887
Ballad for Georg Henig
by Viktor Paskov, Bulgaria
Novel
1888
Under the Yoke
by Ivan Vazov, Bulgaria
Novel
1890
The Doll
by Bolesław Prus, Poland
Novel
1894
Tevye Stories
by Sholom Aleichem, Ukraine
Story collection, also known as Tevye the Dairyman or Tevye the Milkman and the Railroad Stories
The New Woman
by Bolesław Prus, Poland
Novel
1895–1896
Quo Vadis
by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Poland
Novel
1897
Pharoah
by Bolesław Prus, Poland
Novel
1899
Eclipse of the Crescent Moon
by Geza Gardonyi, Hungary
Novel
1901
The Wedding
by Stanislaw Wyspianski, Poland
Play
1904–1909
The Peasants
by Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, Poland
Novel
1906
The Confusions of Young Törless
by Robert Musil, Austria
Novel, also known as Young Törless
1916
The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka, Austria
Novella
1920
R.U.R.
by Karel Čapek, Czechoslovakia
Play
1920–1923
The Good Soldier Schweik
by Jaroslav Hašek, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1923
Sonnets to Orpheus
by Rainer Maria Rilke, Austria
Poetry collection
1925
The Trial
by Franz Kafka, Austria
Novel, originally Das Schloß
1926
The Castle
by Franz Kafka, Austria
Novel
1927
Amerika
by Franz Kafka, Austria
Novel
1928
The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch
by Ladislav Klima, Bohemia
Novel
1930
Insatiability
by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Poland
Novel
1930–1932
The Sleepwalkers
by Hermann Broch, Austria
Novel, originally Die Schlafwandler, in three volumes: The Romantic, The Anarchist, and The Realist
1930–1943
The Man Without Qualities
by Robert Musil, Austria
Novel
1931
Marketa Lazarová
by Vladislav Vančura, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1932
The Radetzky March
by Joseph Roth, Austria
Novel
1934
They Were Counted
by Miklós Bánffy, Hungary
Novel
The Street of Crocodiles
by Bruno Schulz, Poland
Story collection, also known as The Cinnamon Shops, originally Sklepy cynamonowe
How the Steel Was Tempered
by Nikolai Ostrovsky, Ukraine
Novel
1935
Auto-da-Fé
by Elias Cannetti, Austria
Novel, also known as The Tower of Babel, originally Die Blendung
1936
War with the Newts
by Witold Gombrowicz, Poland
Novel
1937
Ferdydurke
by Witold Gombrowicz, Poland
Novel
1938
Alamut
by Vladimir Bartol, Slovenia
Novel
1941
Chess Story
by Stefan Zweig, Austria
Novella
1942
Embers
by Sandor Márai, Hungary
Novel, originally A gyertyák csonkig égnek
1945
The Death of Virgil
by Herman Broch, Austria
Novel
1946
The Bridge on the Drina
by Ivo Andrić, Yugoslavia
Novel, originally Na Drini Cuprija
1948
Ashes and Diamonds
by Jerzy Andrzejewski, Poland
Novel
This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen
by Tadeusz Borowski, Poland
Story collection
1961
Solaris
by Stanislaw Lem, Poland
Novel
1963
The Garden Party
by Václav Havel, Czechoslovakia
Play, originally Zahradní slavnost
The General of the Dead Army
by Ismail Kadare, Albania
Novel
1964
Time of Parting
by Anton Donchev, Bulgaria
Novel
1966
Death and the Dervish
by Meša Selimović, Yugoslavia
Novel
1967
The Joke
by Milan Kundera, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1968
The Cathedral
by Oles Honchar, Ukraine
Novel
1969
The Case Worker
by Gyorgy Konrad, Hungary
Novel
1971
The Futurological Congress
by Stanislaw Lem, Poland
Novel, subtitled From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy
1973
The Winter of Great Solitude
by Ismail Kadare, Albania
Novel
1974
The Port
by Antun Soljan, Croatia
Novel
1975
Correction
by Thomas Bernhard, Austria
Novel, originally Korrektur
Fatelessness
by Imre Kertész, Hungary
Novel
1978
The Czar's Madman
by Jaan Kross, Estonia
Novel
1979
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
by Milan Kundera, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1980
Life and Fate
by Vasily Grossman, Ukraine
Novel
1981
The Palace of Dreams
by Ismail Kadare, Albania
Novel
1983
The Piano Teacher
by Elfriede Jelinek, Austria
Novel
I Served the King of England
by Bohumil Hrabal, Czechia
Novel
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera, Czechoslovakia
Novel
Dictionary of the Khazars
by Milorad Pavić, Serbia
Novel
The Engineer of Human Souls
by Josef Skvorecky, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1985
Helping Verbs of the Heart
by Péter Esterházy, Hungary
Novel
Satanango
by László Krasznahorkai, Hungary
Novel
1986
Extinction
by Thomas Bernhard, Austria
Novel, originally Auslöschung. Ein Zerfall
The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenma
by Andrzej Szczypiorski, Poland
Novel, originally Poczatek
1986–1991
The Notebook Trilogy
by Ágota Kristof, Hungary
Novel series includes The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie.
1989
The Melancholy of Resistance
by László Krasznahorkai, Hungary
Novel
1990
Judge on Trial
by Ivan Klima, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1990–2024
The Witcher Saga
by Andrzej Sapkowski, Poland
Novel and story series includes "The Witcher", "The Last Wish", Sword of Destiny, Blood of Elves, Baptism of Fire, and others
1991
Rivers of Babylon
by Peter Pišťanek, Czechoslovakia
Novel
1994
City Sister Silver
by Jáchym Topol, Czechia
Novel, originally Sestra
1996
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems
by Wisława Szymborska, Poland
Poetry collection
1996–2007
Binding
by Mircea Cărtărescu, Rom nia
Novel includes three volumes: The Left Wing, The Body, and The Right Wing.
1997
Closely Watched Trains
by Bohumil Hrabal, Czechia
Novella
Miracle Workers
by Slavko Janevski, Macedonia
Novel
1999
Natural Novel
by Georgi Gospodinov, Bulgaria
Novel
1999–2022
Inspector Mock series
by Marek Krajewski, Poland
Novel series
2000
Celestial Haramonies
by Péter Esterházy, Hungary
Prose and poetry collection
Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan
by Paul Celan, Romania
Prose and poetry collection
Spring Flowers, Spring Frost
by Ismail Kadare, Albania
Novel
2005
The White King
by György Dragomán, Hungary
Novel
2007
Selected Poems
by Zbigniew Herbert, Poland
Poetry collection
Flights
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
2008
The Lazurus Project
by Aleksander Hemon, Bosnia
Novel
2009
Klotsvog
by Margarita Khemlin, Ukraine
Novel
Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
2010
Voroshylovhrad
by Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine
Novel
2012
The Physics of Sorrow
by Georgi Gospodinov, Bulgaria
Novel
2014
The Books of Jacob
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
