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 comprises the greatest iterature of all times, places, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
This list is based on three decades of research with readers, writers, critics and scholars, as well as the assimilation of titles from hundreds of "best-of" 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".)
What's on the list:
novels (Great Expectations)
• nonfiction novels (In Cold Blood)
novellas (Death in Venice)
• plays (Romeo and Juliet)
• epic or other long poems (The Waste Land)
• story collections (One Thousand and One Nights)
• poetry collections (Leaves of Grass)
• novel series (The Forsyte Saga)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• short stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Novels
This list comprises the greatest novels of all times, places, cultures and genres.
A novel is defined here as a prose fiction of at least forty thousand words.
What's on the list:
novels (The Catcher in the Rye)
• nonfiction novels (The Executioner's Song)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• novellas
• novel series
• short stories
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Novellas
This list comprises the greatest novellas of all times, places, cultures and genres.
Novellas are sometimes called short novels or grouped with long stories. Athough definitions vary, a novella is held here to be a prose fiction of 17,500 to forty thousand words. A longer prose fiction is a novel and shorter one is a story.
What's on the list:
novellas (The Old Man and the Sea; Of Mice and Men
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• novels
• novel series
• short stories
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Novel Series
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 the list:
series including at least three novels or novellas (The Forsyte Saga)
What isn't:
• novel series containing fewer than three novels or novellas
• multi-volume novels
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The Greatest Stories
This list comprises the greatest short 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.
What's on the list:
short stories ("The Dead"; "A Rose for Emily")
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
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The Greatest Story Collections
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' 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 the list:
short story collections (Grimm's Fairy Tales; The Garden Party and Other Stories)
What isn't:
• collected works
• selected works
• nonfiction
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
Back to The Greatest Story Collections list
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 the list:
• novels (Pride and Prejudice)
• novellas (The Old Man and the Sea)
• plays (Waiting for Godot)
• epic or other long poems (The Idylls of the King)
• story collections (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
• poetry collections (Residence on Earth and Other Poems)
• major nonfiction works (A Brief History of Time)
• nonfiction collections (Against Interpretation and Other Essays)
What isn't:
• short stories
• short poems
• short nonfiction, like 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 the list:
major nonfiction works (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)
nonfiction collections (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
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—action, exploration, conflict, danger—central to a quickly moving story.
This list comprises the greatest creative works in the adventure genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on the list:
novels (Treasure Island)
novellas (The Call of the Wild)
• epic poems (Odyssey)
• novel series (The Hunger Games)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Alternate History
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 the list:
novels (The Man in the High Castle)
novellas (Jerusalem Commands)
• novel series (The Baroque Cycle)
What isn't:
• short stories
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The Greatest Crime and Mystery
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 the list:
• novels (And Then There Were None)
• novellas (The Third Man)
• nonfiction novels
• story collections (The Innocence of Father Brown)
• plays (The Mousetrap)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, except nonfiction novels
• short stories
• series
Back to The Greatest Crime and Mystery list
The Greatest Crime and Mystery Stories
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 wordsroughly 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 the list:
• short stories (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
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 the list:
• novel series (Martin Beck series)
• story collection series (Father Brown series)
What isn't:
• nonfiction, true crime or journalism series
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The Greatest Fantasy
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 the list:
novels (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
novellas (Through the Looking-Glass)
• epic poems (Beowulf)
• plays (Peter Pan)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• series
Back to The Greatest Fantasy list
The Greatest Fantasy Stories
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 the list:
short stories (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
Back to The Greatest Fantasy Stories list
The Greatest Fantasy Series
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 the list:
novel series (The Earthsea Cycle)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
Back to The Greatest Fantasy Series list
The Greatest Historical Fiction
The definition of historical fiction is elastic. Everyone agrees it is set in the past, but how far in the past is debated. At least sixty years before the time of writing, say some. Thirty years, say others. Anytime before the writer's lifetime, say still others. For this list, we have sought titles that a consensus of readers seem to consider historical fiction, selected from among works of all times, places and cultures.
This list comprises the greatest works in the historical fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on the list:
novels (I, Claudius)
novellas (Castle Rackrent)
• epic poetry (Iliad)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• novel series, which have a separate list
Back to The Greatest Historical Fiction list
The Greatest Historical Fiction Series
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 the list:
novel series (The Regeneration Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
Back to The Greatest Historical Fiction Series list
The Greatest Horror
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 the list:
novels (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
novellas (The Turn of the Screw)
• novel series (Gormenghast)
• story collections (Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque)
What isn't:
• short stories
Back to The Greatest Horror list
The Greatest Horror Stories
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 the list:
short stories (The Monkey's Paw)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Humour and Satire
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 the list:
novels (Catch-22)
novellas (Candide)
• novel series (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series)
• story collections (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town)
• long poems (The Rape of the Lock)
• plays (The Importance of Being Earnest)
What isn't:
• short stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Literary Fiction
Definitions of literary fiction vary—to the point of disputing whether it even exists as a genre. Some say literary fiction is simply a catchall term for fiction that doesn't fit any other genre. Others hold that literary fiction is refined or artistically developed literature focused on the exploration of characters and their social relations—which is the definition we're adopting as a rule of thumb for this list.
This list comprises the greatest works in the literary fiction genre of all times, places and cultures.
What's on the list:
novels (To Kill A Mockingbird)
novellas (Through the Looking-Glass)
• epic or long narrative poem (Metamorphoses)
• play (Long Day's Journey into Night)
• novel series (The Regeneration Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
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The Greatest Philosophical Fiction
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.
This list comprises the greatest works in the philosophical fuction genre of all times, places and cultures..
What's on the list:
novels (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
novellas (The Outsider)
• play (No Exit)
• novel series (The Space Trilogy)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
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The Greatest Romance
In some literary traditions a romance is a novel, plain and simple. Or it's a kind of novel about a fabulous adventure in an historical context. But for this list the common modern sense of a romance as a a love story is adopted. 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 the list:
novels (Jane Eyre)
novellas (The Graduate)
• plays (Romeo and Juliet)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
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The Greatest Science Fiction
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 the list:
novels (Ender's Game)
novellas (The Left Hand of Darkness)
• story collections (I, Robot)
• plays (R.U.R.)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• series
Back to The Greatest Science Fiction list
The Greatest Science Fiction Stories
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 the list:
stories (Nightfall)
What isn't:
• novels
• novellas
• poetry
• plays
• story collections
• nonfiction
Back to The Greatest Science Fiction Stories list
The Greatest Science Fiction Series
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 the list:
novel series (Dune series)
novella series (Binti series)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
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The Greatest Thrillers
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 the list:
novels (Eye of the Needle)
novellas (Who Goes There?)
novel series (The Millennium Trilogy)
What isn't:
• short stories, which have a separate list
Back to The Greatest Thrillers list
The Greatest Utopias and Dystopias
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 the list:
novels (Erewhon; Nineteen Eighty-Four)
novellas (Utopia)
plays (R.U.R.)
• novel series (The MaddAddam Trilogy)
What isn't:
• short stories, which have a separate list
Back to The Greatest Utopias and Dystopias list
"What's on this list" continued > (TO COME)
