The Greatest Literature of Eastern Europe
The selection of literature from specific countries or regions is based on the continuing research carried out for our flagship list, The Greatest Literature of All Time, and all our other Greatest lists. It is also informed by the additional literary assessments of local readers, writers, critics and scholars.
On this list are literary works of all types, genres, cultures and periods by authors primarily associated with the countries of present-day Eastern Europe and their preceding states.
For the purposes of this list we are following the United Nations Eastern European grouping, excluding Russia, which straddles parts of Europe and Asia and has its own greatest literature page.
The grouping includes Albania, Armenia, Belerus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine among others.
This list focuses on major creative—mainly fictional—works, although some shorter or nonfiction writing of literary significance may also be included.
Latest update: April 7, 2024
The 88 greatest works of Eastern European literature
In chronological order
1501
Judita
Marko Marulić,
Croatia,
poem
1779
Fables and Parables
Ignacy Krasicki,
Poland,
poetry collection
1832
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
story collection
1834
Master Thaddeus
Adam Mickiewicz,
Poland,
poem
1835
Taras Bulba
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
novella
1836
The Government Inspector
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
play
The Nose
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
story
Máj
Karel Hynek Mácha,
Bohemia,
poem
1842
Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
novel
The Overcoat
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine,
story
1853–1862
Kalev's Son
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,
Estonia,
poem
1884
With Fire and Sword
Henryk Sienkiewicz,
Poland,
novel
1887
Ballad for Georg Henig
Viktor Paskov,
Bulgaria,
novel
1888
Under the Yoke
Ivan Vazov,
Bulgaria,
novel
1890
The Doll
Bolesław Prus,
Poland,
novel
1894
Tevye Stories
Sholom Aleichem,
Ukraine,
story collection
The New Woman
Bolesław Prus,
Poland,
novel
1895–1896
Quo Vadis
Henryk Sienkiewicz,
Poland,
novel
1897
Pharoah
Bolesław Prus,
Poland,
novel
1899
Eclipse of the Crescent Moon
Geza Gardonyi,
Hungary,
novel
1901
The Wedding
Stanislaw Wyspianski,
Poland,
play
1904–1909
The Peasants
Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont,
Poland,
novel
1913
The Judgment
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
story
1916
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
novella
1919
In the Penal Colony
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
story
1920
R.U.R.
Karel Čapek,
Czechoslovakia,
play
1920–1923
The Good Soldier Schweik
Jaroslav Hašek,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1925
The Trial
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
novel
1926
The Castle
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
novel
1927
Amerika
Franz Kafka,
Bohemia,
novel
1928
The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch
Ladislav Klima,
Bohemia,
novel
1930
Insatiability
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz,
Poland,
novel
1931
Marketa Lazarová
Vladislav Vančura,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1934
They Were Counted
Miklós Bánffy,
Hungary,
novel
The Street of Crocodiles
Bruno Schulz,
Poland,
novel
How the Steel Was Tempered
Nikolai Ostrovsky,
Ukraine,
novel
1936
War with the Newts
Witold Gombrowicz,
Poland,
novel
1937
Ferdydurke
Karel Čapek,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1938
Alamut
Vladimir Bartol,
Slovenia,
novel
1942
Embers
Sandor Márai,
Hungary,
novel
1946
The Bridge on the Drina
Ivo Andrić,
Yugoslavia,
novel
1848
Ashes and Diamonds
Jerzy Andrzejewski,
Poland,
novel
This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen
Tadeusz Borowski,
Poland,
story collection
1961
Solaris
Stanislaw Lem,
Poland,
novel
1963
The Garden Party
Václav Havel,
Czechoslovakia,
play
The General of the Dead Army
Ismail Kadare,
Albania,
novel
1964
Time of Parting
Anton Donchev,
Bulgaria,
novel
1966
Death and the Dervish
Meša Selimović,
Yugoslavia,
novel
1968
The Cathedral
Oles Honchar,
Ukraine,
novel
1969
The Case Worker
Gyorgy Konrad,
Hungary,
novel
1971
The Futurological Congress
Stanislaw Lem,
Poland,
novel
1973
The Winter of Great Solitude
Ismail Kadare,
Albania,
novel
1974
The Port
Antun Soljan,
Croatia,
novel
1975
Fatelesst
Imre Kertész,
Hungary,
novel
1978
The Czar's Madman
Jaan Kross,
Estonia,
novel
1979
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Milan Kundera,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1980
Life and Fate
Vasily Grossman,
Ukraine,
novel
1981
The Palace of Dreams
Ismail Kadare,
Albania,
novel
1983
I Served the King of England
Bohumil Hrabal,
Czechia,
novel
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
Dictionary of the Khazars
Milorad Pavić,
Serbia,
novel
The Engineer of Human Souls
Josef Skvorecky,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1985
Helping Verbs of the Heart
Péter Esterházy,
Hungary,
novel
Satanango
László Krasznahorkai,
Hungary,
novel
1986–1991
The Notebook Trilogy
Ágota Kristof,
Hungary,
novel
Includes The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie
1989
The Melancholy of Resistance
László Krasznahorkai,
Hungary,
novel
1990
Judge on Trial
Ivan Klima,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1990–2013
The Witcher Saga
Andrzej Sapkowski,
Poland,
Novels and stories
Includes The Witcher, Sword of Destiny, The Last Wish, Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt and others
1991
Rivers of Babylon
Peter Pišťanek,
Czechoslovakia,
novel
1996
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems
Wisława Szymborska,
Poland,
poetry collection
1996–2007
Binding
Mircea Cărtărescu,
Roma nia,
novel
1997
Closely Watched Trains
Bohumil Hrabal,
Czechia,
novella
Miracle Workers
Slavko Janevski,
Macedonia,
novel
1999
Natural Novel
Georgi Gospodinov,
Bulgaria,
novel
1999–
Inspector Mock series
Marek Krajewski,
Bulgaria,
novel series
2000
Celestial Haramonies
Péter Esterházy,
Hungary,
prose and poetry collection
Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan
Paul Celan,
Romania,
prose and poetry collection
Spring Flowers, Spring Frost
Ismail Kadare,
Albania,
novel
2004
New and Collected Poems
ed. Czesław Miłosz,
Poland,
poetry collection
2005
The White King
György Dragomán,
Hungary,
novel
2007
Selected Poems
Zbigniew Herbert,
Poland,
poetry collection
Flights
Olga Tokarczuk,
Poland,
novel
2008
The Lazurus Project
Aleksander Hemon,
Bosnia,
novel
2009
Klotsvog
Margarita Khemlin,
Ukraine,
novel
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Olga Tokarczuk,
Poland,
novel
2010
Voroshylovhrad
Serhiy Zhadan,
Ukraine,
novel
2012
The Physics of Sorrow
Georgi Gospodinov,
Bulgaria,
novel
2014
The Books of Jacob
Olga Tokarczuk,
Poland,
novel
