What's on this list and what isn't
To be eligible for a Greatest literary list, a work has to be the kind of work the list includes. That is, there are rules to determine which books belong on any given list. Mostly these are little more than rules of thumb. The aim is to sort titles onto lists where most readers, writers, critics and scholars would expect to find them. However, a consensus is not always clear and objections may be raised. But, for better or worse, here are the guidelines we use for determining the content of each of our Greatest lists.
The Greatest Literature
The Greatest Literature list is based on three decades of research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, as well as the assimilation of titles from hundreds of printed and online lists, polls, anthologies, collections, curricula, reading guides, literary awards, and many other sources both in print and online. (For more on how works were found and selected, see "Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list".)
This list comprises the greatest literature of all times, places, cultures and genres. It focuses on major works of fiction in various literary forms.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Great Expectations)
• nonfiction novels (e.g., In Cold Blood)
• novellas (e.g., Death in Venice)
• plays (e.g., Romeo and Juliet)
• epic or other long poems (e.g., Epic of Gilgamesh, The Waste Land)
• story collections (e.g., One Thousand and One Nights)
• poetry collections (e.g., Leaves of Grass)
• novel series (e.g., The Forsyte Saga)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Novels
The Greatest Novels list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest novels of all times, places, cultures and genres.
A novel is defined here as a single work of prose fiction comprising more than forty thousand words. Works with fewer words are on The Greatest Novellas and The Greatest Stories lists.
Anomalies on this list include works such as In Cold Blood, which purport to relate factual events in the style of fictional literature and have come to be known as nonfiction novels.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., The Catcher in the Rye)
• nonfiction novels (e.g., The Executioner's Song)
• narratives (e.g., Le Morte d'Arthur)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• novellas
• novel series
• stories
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Novellas
The Greatest Novellas list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest novellas of all times, places, cultures and genres.
Novellas are sometimes called short novels or sometimes count as long stories. Here though, a novella is held to be a prose fiction of 17,500 to forty thousand words. Longer works can be found on The Greatest Novels list and shorter works can be found on The Greatest Stories list.
What's on this list:
• novellas (e.g., The Old Man and the Sea; Of Mice and Men)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• novels
• novel series
• stories
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Novel Series
The Greatest Novel Series list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest novel series of all times, places, cultures and genres.
A novel series is defined here as a sequence of works including at least three novels or novellas by the same author with shared characters, themes and storylines. It may include stories or other literary forms in addition to the novels and novellas.
Some sets of books are difficult to sort as a series or as a single work in multiple parts. For example, the multiple volumes of Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, like those of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, are usually printed separately but together the volumes are considered to form a single novel.
What's on this list:
• novel and novella series (e.g., The Forsyte Saga)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• story series
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Stories
The Greatest Stories list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest stories of all times, places, cultures and genres.
All literature tells stories but here we are looking at prose fiction often called short stories. Although definitions may vary, for this list a story is held to have fewer than 17,500 words. This includes stories at the higher end of the range, sometimes called novellettes. Longer works can be found on The Greatest Novels list and The Greatest Novellas list.
What's on this list:
• stories (e.g., "The Dead"; "A Rose for Emily")
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Story Collections
The Greatest Stories Collections list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest story collections of all times, places, cultures and genres.
This list focuses on story collections published as such by authors. It avoids as much as possible the "Selected" and "Collected" volumes covering authors' entire careers.
Story sequences or cycles, containing stories linked by place, characters and themes, can be difficult to categorize. Are they story collections or novels? The rule of thumb here is that stories in a story collection can be read and appreciated on their own. So, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town are listed here as story collections, although they are sometimes called novels,
What's on this list:
• story collections (e.g., Grimm's Fairy Tales; The Garden Party and Other Stories)
What isn't:
• collected works
• selected works
• nonfiction
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
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The Really Long List of Great Literature
This list comprises the major individual works—both fictional and nonfictional—of all times, places, cultures and genres that are considered great by at least some faction of readers and experts.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Pride and Prejudice)
• novellas (e.g., The Old Man and the Sea)
• plays (e.g., Waiting for Godot)
• epic or other long poems (e.g., The Idylls of the King)
• story collections (e.g., The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
• poetry collections (e.g., Residence on Earth)
• major nonfiction works (e.g., A Brief History of Time)
• nonfiction collections (e.g., Against Interpretation and Other Essays)
What isn't:
• stories
• short poems
• short essays, articles or letters
• series
The Greatest Nonfiction
This list comprises the greatest nonfiction works of all times, places, cultures and genres.
What's on this list:
• major nonfiction works (e.g., The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)
• nonfiction collections (e.g., Against Interpretation and Other Essays)
What isn't:
• fiction
• nonfiction novels
• short nonfiction, like short essays, articles or letters
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The Greatest Adventure
The Greatest Adventure list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the adventure genre of all times, places and cultures.
Adventure can be found in a wide range of literature, arguably in all literature. But for this list adventure is defined as fiction with the adventurous elements central to a quickly moving story.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Treasure Island)
• novellas (e.g., The Call of the Wild)
• epic poems (e.g., Odyssey)
• novel series (e.g., The Hunger Games)
• narratives (e.g., Le Morte d'Arthur)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Alternate History
The Greatest Alternate History list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Alternate history—also called alternative or just plain alt history—was once considered a category of science fiction. But the subgenre's "what if" feature, speculating on what life would be like if events in history had transpired differently, has appeared in works also classed as literary fiction, mysteries, thrillers, romances, historical fiction and even westerns. So many alt history titles also appear on greatest lists for other genres.
This particular list comprises the greatest creative works in the alternative history genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., The Man in the High Castle)
• novellas (e.g., Jerusalem Commands)
• novel series (e.g., The Baroque Cycle)
What isn't:
• stories
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The Greatest Crime and Mystery
The Greatest Crime and Mystery list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
This popular genre of writing today goes under several names, including crime thrillers, detective fiction, mysteries, police procedurals, and whodunits. It overlaps every other publishing category, including literary fiction, espionage, horror, romance and speculative fiction and sometimes distinctions are difficult to make. So many crime and mystery titles also appear on greatest lists for other genres.
This particular list comprises the greatest creative works in the crime and mystery genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., And Then There Were None)
• novellas (e.g., The Third Man)
• nonfiction novels (e.g., In Cold Blood)
• story collections (e.g., The Innocence of Father Brown)
• plays (e.g., The Mousetrap)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• stories
• series
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The Greatest Crime and Mystery Stories
The Greatest Crime and Mystery Stories list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
During much of the history of crime and mystery publishing, the short story ruled. Readers once got their weekly fix of murder and mayhem from dozens of periodicals that filled magazine racks. Today crime and mystery writers are still seeing their short work published in the few magazines that still run stories, as well as in book collections and anthologies.
A story is defined here as prose fiction of fewer than 17,500 words—roughly a narrative you can read in an hour or less.
This list comprises the greatest stories in the crime, mystery and detective genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• stories (e.g., The Murders in the Rue Morgue)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction, true crime, journalism
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The Greatest Crime and Mystery series
The Greatest Crime and Mystery Series list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A series is defined here as comprising at least three novels, novellas or story collections with shared characters, themes or storylines and by the same author.
This list comprises the greatest series in the crime and mystery genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novel series (e.g., Martin Beck series)
• story collection series (e.g., Father Brown series)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, true crime or journalism series
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The Greatest Fantasy
The Greatest Fantasy list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Fantasy is sometimes considered the less reputable sister of science or speculative fiction. But fantastic fiction has had an honourable place in literature since the first stories were written, long before the invention of science fiction. For this list fantasy is differentiated from other speculative fiction by having at its heart a supernatural, magic or non-scientific element.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the fantasy genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., The Picture of Dorian Gray)
• novellas (e.g., Through the Looking-Glass)
• epic poems (e.g., Beowulf)
• plays (e.g., Peter Pan)
• narratives (e.g., Le Morte d'Arthur)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
• series
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The Greatest Fantasy Stories
The Greatest Fantasy Stories list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A story is defined here as prose fiction having fewer than 17,500 words, usually capable of being read in an hour or less.
This list comprises the greatest stories in the fantasy genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• stories (e.g., The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Fantasy Series
The Greatest Fantasy Series list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A series is defined here as comprising at least three novels, novellas or story collections with shared characters, themes or storylines and by the same author.
This list comprises the greatest series in the fantasy genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novel series (e.g., The Earthsea Cycle)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Historical Fiction
The Greatest Historical Fiction list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
The popular notion of an historical story may be that of a tale told in our modern era about events in the distant past—especially having to do with romance. But historical fiction has been written throughout history, relating events of all kinds purportedly taking place years earlier.
How many years earlier? In this, there's little agreement. Everyone agrees historical fiction is set in the past. At least fifty or sixty years before the time of writing, say some. Thirty years, say others. Any time before the writer's lifetime, say still others.
For this list, we have not worried much about the exact time limits of competeing definitions. We have just sought the works that a consensus of readers seem to consider historical fiction.
This list comprises the greatest works in the historical fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., I, Claudius)
• novellas (e.g., Castle Rackrent)
• epic poetry (Iliad)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
• novel series, which have a separate list
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The Greatest Historical Fiction Series
The Greatest Historical Fiction Series list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A series is defined here as comprising at least three novels, novellas or story collections with shared characters, themes or storylines and by the same author.
This list comprises the greatest series in the historical fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novel series (e.g., The Regeneration Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
Back to The Greatest Historical Fiction Series list
The Greatest Horror
The Greatest Horror list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
The hallmarks of horror—arousing terror, repulsion or other psychological disturbance—are found to some degree in all literature. But a work falls into the horror genre when these fearsome features are central to it.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the horror genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., The Picture of Dorian Gray)
• novellas (e.g., The Turn of the Screw)
• novel series (e.g., Gormenghast)
• story collections (e.g., Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque)
What isn't:
• stories
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The Greatest Horror Stories
The Greatest Horror Stories list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A story is defined here as prose fiction having fewer than 17,500 words, usually capable of being read in an hour or less.
This list comprises the greatest stories in the horror genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• stories (e.g., The Monkey's Paw)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Humour and Satire
The Greatest Humour and Satire list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Humor and satire are here considered to belong to the same literary genre. If you have to differentiate them, you might say humour makes funny while satire makes fun of. But it can be argued all humour has some satirical target, however big or small, and all satire has some humorous content.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the humour and satire genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Catch-22)
• novellas (e.g., Candide)
• novel series (e.g., The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series)
• story collections (e.g., Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town)
• long poems (e.g., The Rape of the Lock)
• plays (e.g., The Importance of Being Earnest)
What isn't:
• stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Literary Fiction
The Greatest Literary Fiction list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.Fiction is literature that tells stories with invented characters and events. Explaining what makes some of it literary fiction though is more difficult.
Definitions of literary fiction vary widely—to the point of disputing whether literary fiction even exists as a genre. Some dismiss the description as simply a catchall term for fiction that doesn't fit any other genre. Or as any fiction without a page-turning plot. Or, most cynically, as any creative writing without commercial potential.
A more inclusive definition holds that literary fiction primarily explores characters and their social relations. It tends to be more thematically complex and stylistically developed than most popular writing. A work of literary fiction may also feature an engaging plot, helping create the subgenre that publishers and booksellers call upmarket fiction, a kind of cross between between literary and commercial writing.
This list comprises the greatest works in the literary fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., To Kill A Mockingbird)
• novellas (e.g., Through the Looking-Glass)
• epic or long narrative poem (e.g., Metamorphoses)
• plays (e.g., Long Day's Journey into Night)
• novel series (e.g., The Regeneration Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
• lyric or short poems
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The Greatest Myths and Mythologies
The Greatest Myths and Mythologies list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
The common notion of a myth is that it's something believed but untrue, like the myth that we use only fifteen percent of our brains or the myth that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round.
In literature a myth is an extraordinary story that may or may not be believed as literally true but features supernatural beings, monsters or legendary figures to answer fundamental questions important to a people, such as where they came from, their place in the world and how the world works.
A mythology is the collection of myths significant to a culture or their study.
This list comprises the greatest works of myth and mythology of all times, places, cultures and genres.
What's on this list:
• epic poems (e.g., The Epic of Gilgamesh)
• long poems (e.g., Metamorphoses)
• prose and poetry collection (e.g., Hebrew Bible)
• novels (e.g., American Gods)
• novel and story series (e.g., The Cthulhu Mythos)
• plays (e.g., Oedipus Rex)
• narratives (e.g., Le Morte d'Arthur)
• stories (e.g., "Theseus and the Minotaur")
What isn't:
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Philosophical Fiction
The Greatest Philosophical Fiction list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Fiction that addresses philosophical themes may seem to be a narrow field of literature—until you consider how wide-ranging philosophical themes can be, taking up issues of morality, science, religion, politics, aesthetics, metaphysics, law, language, education and almost every other human concern. You can put the words "philosophy of" before the name of almost any human endeavour and find a field of study someone would find worth writing or reading about.
Although most serious literature touches on such philosophical issues, we are restricting this list to fiction in which these issues are central.
This list comprises the greatest works in the philosophical fiction genre of all times, places and cultures..
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
• novellas (e.g., The Outsider)
• play (e.g., No Exit)
• novel series (e.g., The Space Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
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The Greatest Romance
The Greatest Romance list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
In some literary traditions a romance is a novel, plain and simple. Or it's considered a fictional work about strrange and fabulous adventures in an historical context. But here we are adopting the common modern sense of a romance as a love story.
A romantic relationship has to be at the heart of what the work is about. So Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace with amorous affairs as subplots does not qualify for this list, while his Anna Karenina, centred on a love affair, does.
This list comprises the greatest works in the romance genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Jane Eyre)
• novellas (e.g., The Graduate)
• plays (e.g., Romeo and Juliet)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
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The Greatest Science Fiction
The Greatest Science Fiction list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Science fiction works are often scorned as "space operas"—with starships zipping around the galaxy battling bug-eyed aliens. But serious science fiction readers appreciate the genre as exploring all possibilities of human experience. This speculative literature may be as psychologically, philosophically, politically or sexually charged as so-called mainstream literature. (See the article "What is science fiction?")
This list comprises the greatest works in the science fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Ender's Game)
• novellas (e.g., The Left Hand of Darkness)
• story collections (e.g., I, Robot)
• plays (e.g., R.U.R.)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• stories
• series
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The Greatest Science Fiction Stories
The Greatest Science Fiction Stories list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.Though novels dominate speculative fiction, the short form has played an enormous role in the field's development. During science fiction's Golden Age especially, the short story fed the many periodicals available then. Writers today continue to hone their craft with stories for publication in periodicals, anthologies and collections.
A story is defined here as prose fiction having fewer than 17,500 words, usually capable of being read in an hour or less.
This list comprises the greatest stories in the science fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• stories (e.g., Nightfall)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Science Fiction Series
The Greatest Science Fiction list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
Speculative fiction lends itself well to serialization. Once an author has gone to the tremendous effort of creating a world with distinctive characters and provocative themes and once readers have been drawn into sharing that world, it's natural to want to explore it further.
A series is defined here as comprising at least three novels, novellas or story collections with shared characters, themes or storylines and by the same author.
This list comprises the greatest series in the science fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novel series (e.g., Dune series)
• novella series (e.g., Binti series)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Thrillers
The Greatest Thrillers list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
For many a fan, thrillers are stories of espionage, narrating the escapades of spies. But it can mean any fiction with an intriguing, exciting, suspenseful or otherwise "thrilling" plot. Works considered thrillers can cut across almost all other genres, including crime, mystery, romance, science fiction, horror, historical fiction and mainstream "literary" writing.
This list comprises the greatest works in the thriller genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Eye of the Needle)
• novellas (e.g., Who Goes There?)
• novel series (e.g., The Millennium Trilogy)
What isn't:
• stories
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The Greatest Utopias and Dystopias
The Greatest Utopias and Dystopias list is based on the same research among readers, writers, critics and scholars, plus assimilation of titles from hundreds of sources, as The Greatest Literature list.
A utopia (literally "no place") is a society imagined as much better than the one we live in—close to perfect perhaps. A dystopia ("bad place") is one imagined as much worse, providing a difficult existence for its inhabitants.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the utopian and dystopian genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on this list:
• novels (e.g., Erewhon; Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• novellas (e.g., Utopia)
• plays (e.g., R.U.R.)
• novel series (e.g., The MaddAddam Trilogy)
What isn't:
• stories, which have a separate list
Back to The Greatest Utopias and Dystopias list
