The Greatest Stories of all Time
All literature tells stories. Here, however, we are looking at short stories, defined as prose fiction up to 17,500 words. Longer works are reserved for our Greatest Novels and Greatest Novellas lists.
Titles are chosen for this list based on the same extensive research and surveys that helped create The Greatest Literature of All Time list. They represent the best stories of all genres, cultures and eras.
Please note, this list is for standalone stories only. Great anthologies, collections and story cycles are listed separately.
This Greatest Stories list is continually updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older stories evolves.
Latest update: March 16, 2024
The 444 greatest stories
In chronological order
BCE
c.1500
"Poor Man of Nippur"
Anonymous
Babylonia
story
c.1200
"Tale of Two Brothers"
Anonymous
Egypt
story
c.1100
"Story of Wenamun"
Anonymous
Egypt
story
CE
c.800–1200
"The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor"
Anonymous
Persian
story
c.800–1400
"The Fisherman and the Jinni"
Anonymous
Persia
story
c.900
"The Butterfly Lovers"
Anonymous
China
story
1348
"The Heart of Guillaume de Cabestaing"
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy
story
"The Story of Patient Griselda"
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italy
story
c. 1387–1400
"The Knight's Tale"
Geoffrey Chaucer
England
poem
"The Wife of Bath's Tale"
Geoffrey Chaucer
England
poem
1558
"The Misadventures of Bornet"
Marguerite de Navarre
France
story
1697
"Bluebeard"
Charles Perrault
France
story
"Cinderella"
Charles Perrault
France
story
"Little Red Riding Hood"
Charles Perrault
France
story
"Puss in Boots"
Charles Perrault
France
story
"Sleeping Beauty"
Charles Perrault
France
story
1710
"Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp"
Antoine Galland
France
story
"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"
Antoine Galland
France
story
1805
"The Marquise of O..."
Heinrich von Kleist
Germany
story
1807
"The Earthquake in Chile"
Heinrich von Kleist
Germany
story
1816
"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King"
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Germany
story
1816
"The Sandman"
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Germany
story
1827
"The Two Drovers"
Walter Scott
Scotland
story
1828
"The Tapestried Chamber ...or The Lady in the Sacque"
Walter Scott
Scotland
story
1830
"The Elixir of Life"
Honoré de Balzac
France
story
"An Incident in the Reign of Terror"
Honoré de Balzac
France
story
"A Passion in the Desert"
Honoré de Balzac
France
story
1834
"The Queen of Spades"
Alexander Pushkin
Russia
story
1835
"Diary of a Madman"
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
story
"Nevsky Prospekt"
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
story
"Wakefield"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
"Young Goodman Brown"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
""The Nose"
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
story
"The Minister's Black Veil"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
1837
"The Little Mermaid"
Han Christian Anderson
Denmark
story
"The Spectre of Tappington"
Richard Harris Barham
England
story
"The Great Carbuncle"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
"Prophetic Pictures"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
1838
"The Story of Mary Ancel"
William Makepeace Thackeray
England
story
1842
"The Overcoat"
Nikolai Gogol
Ukraine
story
1843
"The Ugly Duckling"
Hans Christian Andersen
Denmark
story
"The Birth-Mark"
Nathaniel Hawthorne
United States
story
1848
"A Christmas Tree and a Wedding"
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
story
"White Nights"
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
Story
"District Doctor"
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
story
"Mumu
Ivan Turgenev"
Russia
story
1853
"Bartleby the Scrivener"
Herman Melville
United States
story
"The Lightning-Rod Man"
Herman Melville
United States
story
1855
"The Squire's Ghost"
Mary Gaskell
England
story
1868
"The Luck of Roaring Camp"
Bret Harte
United States
story
1869
"The Outcasts of Poker Flat"
Bret Harte
United States
story
"The Eclipse"
James Fenimore Cooper
United States
story
1872
"Green Tea"
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Ireland
story
"The Naughty Saint Vitalis"
Gottfried Keller
Switzerland
story
1873
"Marjorie Daw"
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
United States
story
1874
"A Fight With a Cannon"
Victor-Marie Hugo
France
story
1876
"The Meek One"
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
story
"Scarlet Stockings"
Luisa May Alcott
United States
story
1877
"The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler"
Gustav Flaubert
France
story
"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man"
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
story
1880
"Boule de Suif"
Guy de Maupassant
France
story
"The Pavilion on the Links"
Robert Louis Stevenson
France
story
1882
"The Knightsbridge Mystery"
Charles Reade
England
story
"Plautus in the Convent"
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Switzerland
story
"The Lady, or the Tiger?"
Frank R. Stockton
United States
story
1884
"The Necklace"
Guy de Maupassant
France
story
1885
"The Huntsman"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"The Looking Glass"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"The Three Questions"
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
story
"The Griffin and the Minor Canon"
Frank R. Stockton
United States
story
1886
"Lispeth"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
"The Happy Prince"
Oscar Wilde
Ireland
story
"Vanka"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
story
1887
"The Horla"
Guy de Maupassant
France
story
"The Canterville Ghost"
Oscar Wilde
Ireland
story
"The Nightingale and the Rose"
Oscar Wilde
England
story
"The Selfish Giant"
Oscar Wilde
England
story
"A Legend of Old Egypt"
Bolesław Prus
Poland
story
1889
"The Bet"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"Chickamauga"
Ambrose Bierce
United States
story
"A Horseman in the Sky"
Ambrose Bierce
United States
story
1890
"The Courting of Dinah Shadd"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
"Without Benefit of Clergy"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
"The Bottle Imp"
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scotland
story
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
Ambrose Bierce
United States
story
"Brooksmith"
Henry James
United States
story
1892
"Kabuliwala"
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengal
story
"Our Lady's Juggler"
Anatole France
France
story
"The Yellow Wallpape"
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
United States
story
"Christmas Every Day"
William Dean Howells
United States
story
"The Real Thing"
Henry James
United States
story
1893
"The Damned Thing"
Ambrose Bierce
United States
story
"Désirée’s Baby"
Kate Chopin
United States
story
1894
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
"The Outlaws"
Selma Logerlöf
Sweden
story
"Regret"
Kate Chopin
United States
story
"The Story of an Hour"
Kate Chopin
United States
story
1895
"A Farewell"
Arthur Schnitzler
Germany
story
"One Autumn Night"
Maxim Gorky
Russia
story
"The Yellow Sign"
Robert W. Chambers
United States
story
"The Altar of the Dead"
Henry James
United States
story
1896
"Little Herr Friedemann"
Thomas Mann
Germany
story
"The Reporter Who Made Himself King"
Richard Harding Davis
United States
story
1897
"The Fortune-Teller"
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Brazil
story
1898
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
H.G. Wells
England
story
"Gooseberries"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
1899
"The Darling"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"The Lady with the Dog"
Anton Chekhov
Russia
story
"Twenty-six Men and a Girl"
Maxim Gorky
Russia
story
1900
"How Old Timofei Died With a Song"
Rainer Maria Rilke
Poland
story
1901
"A Dark Brown Dog"
Stephen Crane
United States
story
"How the Leopard Got His Spots"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
1903
"A Dog's Tale"
Mark Twain
United States
story
1904
"The Mezzotint"
M.R. James
England
story
"'They'"
Rudyard Kipling
England
story
"Eveline"
James Joyce
Ireland
story
"The Red Laugh"
Leonid Andreyev
Russia
story
"The Cop and the Anthem"
O. Henry
United States
story
"The Other Two"
Edith Wharton
United States
story
"The White People"
Arthur Machen
Wales
story
1905
"The Burning of Egliswyle"
Frank Wedekind
Germany
story
"The Last Leaf"
O. Henry
United States
story
1906
"Lazarus"
Leonid Andreyev
Russia
story
"The Gift of the Magi"
O. Henry
United States
story
1907
"Putois"
Anatole France
France
story
1908
"The Death of Bachelor"
Arthur Schnitzler
Austria
story
"To Build a Fire"
Jack London
United States
story
"The Ransom of Red Chief"
O. Henry
United States
story
1911
"Casting the Runes"
M.R. James
England
story
"he Odour of Chrysanthemums"
D.H. Lawrence
England
Story
"The Open Window"
H.H. Munro
England
story
"Sredni Vashtar"
H.H. Munro
England
story
1913
"The Judgment"
Franz Kafka
Czech.
story
1914
"The Prussian Officer"
D.H. Lawrence
England
story
"The Schartz-Metterklume Method"
H.H. Munro
England
story
1915
"Before the Trial"
Franz Kafka
Czechia
story
""Rashōmon
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Japan
story
1916
"Enoch Soames"
Max Beerbohm
England
story
1917
"A Country Doctor"
Franz Kafka
Czechia
story
"The Tale"
Joseph Conrad
England
story
"The Mark on the Wall"
Virginia Woolf
England
story
"A Jury of Her Peers"
Susan Glaspell
United States
story
1919
"In the Penal Colony"
Franz Kafka
Czechia
story
"The Interlopers"
H.H. Munro
England
story
"Loneliness"
Sherwood Anderson
United States
story
"The Fourth Man"
John Russell
United States
story
1921
"Rain"
W. Somerset Maugham
England
story
"I Want to Know Why"
Sherwood Anderson
United States
story
1922
"A Hunger Artist"
Franz Kafka
Czechia
story
"In a Grove"
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Japan
story
"The Horse Dealer’s Daughter"
D.H. Lawrence
England
Story
"I'm a Fool"
Sherwood Anderson
United States
story
1923
"Theater"
Jean Toomer
United States
story
1924
"The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket"
Yasunari Kawabata
Japan
story
"Di Grasso"
Isaac Babel
Russia
story
"The Most Dangerous Game"
Richard Connell
United States
story
"The Golden Honeymoon"
Ring Lardner
United States
story
"The Story of My Dovecote"
Isaac Babel
Russia
story
"Haircut"
Ring Lardner
United States
story
1927
"My First Goose"
Isaac Babel
Russia
story
"The Trumpet Sounds"
Mary Roberts Rinehart
United States
story
1929
"The End of the Party"
Graham Greene
England
story
"Big Blonde"
Dorothy Parker
United States
story
"Theft"
Katherine Anne Porter
United States
story
"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"
Katherine Anne Porter
United States
story
"A Telephone Call"
Dorothy Parker
United States
story
"Flowering Judas"
Katherine Ann Porter
United States
story
1931
"The Story of Babar"
Jeean de Brunhof
France
story
"uests of the Nation"
Frank O'Connor
Ireland
story
"Terra Incognita"
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
story
"Dry September"
William Faulkner
United States
story
""That Evening Sun
William Faulkner
United States
story
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow"
Conrad Aiken
United States
story
"Twilight"
John W. Campbell
United States
story
"Wash"
William Faulkner
United States
story
"A Martian Odyssey"
Stanley G. Weinbaum
United States
story
"The Basement Room"
Graham Greene
United States
story
"The Foreigner"
Francis Steegmuller
United States
story
1936
"Spring in Fialta"
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
story
"The Devil and Daniel Webster"
Stephen Vincent Benét
United States
story
"The Graveyard Rats"
Henry Kuttner
United States
story
"Big Boy Leaves Home"
Richard Wright
United States
story
1937
"Call Me Joe"
Poul Anderson
United States
story
"In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"
Delmore Schwartz
United States
story
1938
"Leiningen Versus the Ants"
Carl Stephenson
Germany
story
"Helen O'Loy"
Lester Del Rey
United States
story
"Pigeons From Hell"
Robert E. Howard
United States
story
"Flight"
John Steinbeck
United States
story
"The Use of Force"
William Carlos Williams
United States
story
1939
"The Wall"
Jean-Paul Sartre
France
story
"Barn Burning"
William Faulkner
United States
story
"The Door"
E.B. White
United States
story
"The Chaser"
John Collier
United States
story
"Girls in Their Summer Dresses"
Irwin Shaw
United States
story
1940
"Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story
"The Roads Must Roll
Robert A. Heinlein
United States
story
"It"
Theodore Sturgeon
United States
story
"The Man Who Was Almost a Man"
Richard Wright
United States
story
1941
"The Garden of Forking Paths"
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story
"The Lottery in Babylon"
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story
"A Girl from Red Lion, PA"
H.L Mencken
United States
story
"Microcosmic God"
Theodore Sturgeon
United States
story
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
James Thurber
United States
story
"The Hitch-Hikers"
Eudora Welty
United States
story
"Why I Live at the P.O."
Eudora Welty
United States
story
"A Worn Path"
Eudora Welty
United States
story
1942
"Sorrow-Acre"
Isak Dinesen
Denmark
story
"The Quilt"
Ismat Chugtai
India
story
"The Catbird Seat"
James Thurber
United States
story
"The Weapon Shop"
A.E. van Vogt
United States
story
"Rear Window"
Cornell Woolrich
United States
story
1943
"A String of Beads"
Somerset Maugham
United States
story
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"
Robert Bloch
United States
story
"Mimsy Were the Borogroves"
C.L. Moore, Henry Kuttner
(as Lewis Padgett)
(as Lewis Padgett)
United States
story
1944
"Beware of the Dog"
Roald Dahl
England
story
"Arena"
Fredric Brown
United States
story
1945
"The Aleph"
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story
"The Small Assassin"
Ray Bradbury
United States
story
"First Contact"
Murray Leinster
United States
story
1946
"First Love"
Samuel Beckett
Ireland
story
1947
"The Enormous Radio"
John Cheever
United States
story
"Smoke Ghost"
Fritz Leiber
United States
story
"With Folded Hands..."
Jack Williamson
United States
story
1948
"Signs and Symbols"
Vladimir Nabokov
Russia
story
"Miami–New York"
Martha Gellhorn
United States
story
"That Only a Mother"
Judith Merril
United States
story
"The Lottery"
Shirley Jackson
United States
story
"Scanners Live in Vain"
Cordwainer Smith
United States
story
"Little Black Bag of Magic"
C.M. Kornbluth
United States
story
"Coming Attraction"
Fritz Leiber
United States
story
1951
"Bestiary"
Julio Cortázar
Argentina
story
"Christmas Not Just once a Year"
Heinrich Böll
Germany
story
"Goodbye, My Brother"
John Cheever
United States
story
"Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland"
Carson McCullers
United States
story
"The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin"
Tennessee Williams
United States
story
1952
"The Birds"
Daphne du Maurier
England
story
"Surface Tension"
James Blish
United States
story
"A Child's Christmas in Wales"
Dylan Thomas
Wales
story
1953
"The South
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentina
story
"The Nine Billion Names of God"
Arthur C. Clarke
England
story
"Three-Ten to Yuma"
Elmore Leonard
United States
story
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
Flannery O'Connor
United States
story
"Gimpel the Fool"
Isaac Bashevis Singer
United States
story
"Man Fom the South"
Roald Dahl
Wales
story
1954
"Fondy Fahrenheit"
Alfred Bester
United States
story
"All Summer in a Day"
Ray Bradbury
United States
story
"The Country Husband"
John Cheever
United States
story
"The Five-Forty-Eight"
John Cheever
United States
story
"The Cold Equations"
Tom Godwin
United States
story
1955
"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Colombia
story
"Good Country People"
Flannery O'Connor
United States
story
"Toba Tek Singh"
Sadaat Hasan Manto
Pakistan
story
1956
"The Night Face Up"
Julio Cortázar
Argentina
story
1957
"The Adulterous Woman"
Albert Camus
Algeria
story
"The Guest"
Albert Camus
Algeria
story
"A Bond for Two Lifetimes—Gleanings"
Fumiko Enchi
Japan
story
"The Habit of Loving"
Doris Lessing
United States
story
"Sonny's Blues"
James Baldwin
United States
story
1958
"The Challenge"
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peru
story
1959
"The Landlady"
Roald Dahl
Wales
story
"The Sacrificial Egg"
Chinua Achebe
Nigeria
story
"The Soldier's Peaches"
Stuart Cloete
South Africa
story
"The Ledge"
Lawrence Sargent Hall
United States
story
"Flowers for Algernon"
Daniel Keyes
United States
story
1960
"Borges and I"
Jorge Luis Borges
Argentinia
story
"A Horse and Two Goats"
R.K. Narayan
India
story
"Patriotism"
Yukio Mishima
Japan
story
1961
"The Tomorrow-Tamer"
Margaret Laurence
Canada
story
"I Stand Here Ironing"
Tillie Olsen
United States
story
"A&P"
John Updike
United States
story
"The Moon Moth"
Jack Vance
United States
story
"Harrison Bergeron"
Kurt Vonnegut
United States
story
1962
"Let Them Call It Jazz"
Jean Rhys
England
story
"Novotny's Pain"
Philip Roth
United States
story
"Pigeon Feathers"
John Updike
United States
story
1963
"Gogol's Wife"
Tomasso Landolfi
Italy
story
"The Jewbird"
Bernard Malamud
United States
story
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes"
Roger Zelazny
United States
story
1964
"The Swimmer"
John Cheever
United States
story
1965
"Going to Meet the Man"
James Baldwin
United States
story
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
Harlan Ellison
United States
story
"Parker's Back"
Flannery O'Connor
United States
story
1966
"The Saint"
V.S. Pritchett
England
story
"Glittering City"
Cyprina Ekwensi
Nigeria
story
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
Joyce Carol Oates
United States
story
1967
"The Night Driver"
Italo Calvino
Italy
story
"Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"
Raymond Carver
United States
story
1968
"Boys and Girls"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
"Henne Fire"
Isaac Bashevis Singer
United States
story
1969
"How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again"
Joyce Carole Oates
United States
story
1979
"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"
Brian W. Aldiss
England
story
"Private Tuition by Mr Bose"
Anita Desai
India
story
1971
"Don't Look Now"
Daphne du Maurier
England
story
"Inconstant Moon"
Larry Niven
United States
story
"The Suitcase"
Cynthia Ozick
United States
story
1972
"Goat Song"
Poul Anderson
United States
story
"Naga"
R.K. Narayan
India
story
"Eurema's Dam"
R.A. Lafferty
United States
story
1973
"The Whimper of Whipped Dogs"
Harlan Ellison
United States
story
"The One Who Walks Away From Omelas"
Ursula K. Le Guin
United States
story
"Everyday Use"
Alice Walker
United States
story
1974
"Five-Twenty"
Patrick White
Australia
story
"How I Met My Husband"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
"I Bought a Little City"
Donald Barthelme
United States
story
1975
"Rape Fantasies"
Margaret Atwood
Canada
story
"Roses, Rhododendrons"
Alice Adams
United States
story
1976
"The Bicentennial Man"
Isaac Asimov
United States
story
"The School"
Donald Barthelme
United States
story
1977
"Jeffty Is Five"
Harlan Ellison
United States
story
1978
"The Beggar Maid"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
"Why Don't You Dance?"
Raymond Carver
United States
story
1979
"The Hockey Sweater"
Roch Carrier
Canada
story
1980
"The Shawl"
Cynthia Ozick
United States
story
"The Ugly Chickens"
Howard Waldrop
United States
story
1981
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"
Raymond Carver
United States
story
"Coin of the Realm"
Charles L. Grant
United States
story
"The Reach"
Stephen King
United States
story
1982
"Calling Card"
Ramsey Campbell
England
story
1985
"The Chosen Husband"
Mavis Gallant
Canada
story
"Greasy Lake"
T. Coraghessan Boyle
United States
story
1986
"Communnist"
Richard Ford
United States
story
"The Way We Live Now
Susan Sontag
United States
story
1987
"Buffalo Girls, Won't You Come Out Tonight"
Ursula K. Le Guin
United States
story
"The Things They Carried"
Tim O'Brien
United States
story
1988
"The Management of Grief"
Bharati Mukherjee
United States
story
1989
"You're Ugly, Too"
Lorrie Moore
United States
story
1990
"A Real Doll"
A.M. Homes
United States
story
"Meneseteung"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
"Bears Discover Fire"
Terry Bisson
United States
story
1991
"Never Marry a Mexican"
Sandra Cisneros
United States
story
"Emergency"
Denis Johnson
United States
story
"The Pugilist at Rest"
Thom Jones
United States
story
1992
"I Want to Live!"
Thom Jones
United States
story
1993
"In Plain Sight"
Mavis Gallant
Canada
story
"The Elephant Vanishes"
Haruki Murakami
Japan
story
"The Second Bakery Attack"
Haruki Murakami
Japan
story
"Silver Water"
Amy Bloom
United States
story
1994
"In Dancing Bear"
Doug Allyn
United States
story
1997
"Tiny, Smiling Daddy"
Mary Gaitskill
United States
story
"The Half-Skinned Steer"
Annie Proulx
United States
story
"Bullet in the Brain"
Tobias Wolff
United States
Story
1997–1999
"Brokeback Mountain"
Annie Proulx
United States
story
1998
"Sea Oak"
George Saunders
United States
story
1999
"Interpreter of Maladies"
Jhumpa Lahiri
United States
story
2000
"Bee Honey"
Banana Yoshimoto
Japan
story
2001
"The Bear Came Over the Mountain"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
2003
"What You Pawn, I Will Redeem"
Sherman Alexie
United States
story
2004
"Runaway"
Alice Munro
Canada
story
2005
"Two Hearts"
Peter S. Beagle
United States
story
2009
"A Tiny Feast"
Chris Adrian
United States
story
2010
"Safari"
Jennifer Egan
United States
story
2011
"The Paper Managerie"
Ken Liu
United States
story
2013
"Godspeed and Perpetua"
A. Igoni Barrett
Nigeria
story
2015
"Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers"
Alyssa Wong
United States
story
2016
"Seasons of Glass and Iron"
Amal El-Mohtar
Canada
story
2017
"Funny Little Snakes"
Tessa Hadley
England
story
