What's on this list and what isn't (cont'd)
The Greatest African Literature
African literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in countries of Africa, including Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe and others.
This list comprises the greatest African literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Things Fall Apart)
novellas (such as The Plague)
• novel series (such as Cairo Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as Song of Lawino)
• plays (such as "Master Harold"...and the Boys)
• story collections (such as You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest African Literature list
The Greatest American Literature
American literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the United States.
This list comprises the greatest American literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Great Gatsby)
novellas (such as Of Mice and Men; The Old Man and the Sea)
• novel series (such as U.S.A.; The Foundation Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as Evangeline; Howl)
• plays (such as Long Day's Journey into Night; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
• story collections (such as What We Talk About When We Talk About Love)
• poetry collections (such as Leaves of Grass; Montage of a Dream Deferred)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest American Literature list
The Greatest Argentine Literature
Argentine literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Argentina.
This list comprises the greatest Argentine literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Kiss of the Spiderwoman)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as Martín Fierro)
• plays
• story collections (such as Fictions)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Argentine Literature list
The Greatest Australian Literature
Australian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Australia.
This list comprises the greatest Australian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Book Thief)
novellas (such as Fly Away Peter)
• novel series (such as The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony)
• epic and long poems
• plays
• story collections (such as The Bodysurfers)
• poetry collections (such as No More Boomerang)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Australian Literature list
The Greatest Austrian Literature
Austrian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Austria.
This list comprises the greatest Austrian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Trial)
novellas (such as Venus in Furs)
• novel series
• epic and long poems
• plays (such as Kaspar)
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as Duino Elegies)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Austrian Literature list
The Greatest Beneluxian Literature
Beneluxian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, collectively known as Benelux.
This list comprises the greatest Beneluxian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Memoirs of Hadrian)
novellas
• novel series (such as Cairo Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as Reynard the Fox)
• plays (such as Pelleas and Melisande)
• story collections
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Beneluxian Literature list
The Greatest Brazilian Literature
Brazilian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Brazil.
This list comprises the greatest Brazilian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Alchemist)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as O Uraguai)
• plays
• story collections (such as A Night in the Tavern)
• poetry collections (such as Brazilwood)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Brazilian Literature list
The Greatest British Literature
British literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the countries of England, Wales and Scotland, collectively known as Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom, excluding Northern Ireland. The literature of Ireland, including Northern Ireland, has a separate Greatest page.
This list comprises the greatest British literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles; Atonement)
novellas (such as Heart of Darkness; Animal Farm)
• novel series (such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
• epic and long poems (such as The Rape of the Lock; The Waste Land)
• plays (such as Hamlet; She Stoops to Conquer)
• story collections (such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
• poetry collections (such as Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect; A Shropshire Lad)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest British Literature list
The Greatest Canadian Literature
Canadian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Canada.
This list comprises the greatest Canadian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Diviners)
novellas (such as This Is How You Lose the Time War)
• novel series (such as The Fionavar Tapestry)
• epic and long poems
• plays (such as Les Belles-Soeurs)
• story collections (such as Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town)
• poetry collections (such as Power Politics)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Canadian Literature list
The Greatest Caribbean Literature
Caribbean literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in countries of the Caribbean, including Antigua, Barbados, the Bahamas, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
This list comprises the greatest Caribbean literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as A House for Mr Biswas)
novellas
• novel series (such as Dark Star)
• novella series (such as Love, Anger, Madness)
• epic and long poems (such as Omeros)
• plays (such as Marisol)
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as Ismaelillo)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Caribbean Literature list
The Greatest Chinese Literature
Chinese literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in China.
This list comprises the greatest Chinese literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms; The Three-Body Problem)
novellas (such as The True Story of Ah Q; Raise the Red Lantern)
• novel series (such as The Jiangnan Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as Epic of King Gesar)
• plays (such as The Peony Pavilion)
• story collections (such as Old Tales Retold; Joy)
• poetry collections (such as Wild Grass)
• poetry anthologies (such as Classic of Poetry)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Chinese Literature list
The Greatest Danish Literature
Danish literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Denmark.
This list comprises the greatest Danish literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow)
novellas
• novel series (such as The Long Journey)
• epic and long poems
• plays
• story collections (such as Fairy Tales and Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Butterfly Valley)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Danish Literature list
The Greatest Eastern European Literature
Eastern European literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in countries of Eastern Europoe, including of Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belanus, Bohemia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kievan Rus', Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
The literature of Russia, which straddles parts of Europe and Asia, is not included but has a separate Greatest page.
This list comprises the greatest Eastern European literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Quo Vadis)
novellas (such as Taras Bulba)
• novel series (such as The Witcher Saga)
• epic and long poems (such as Sir Thaddeus)
• plays (such as The Government Inspector)
• story collections (such as Tevye Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Eastern European Literature list
The Greatest French Literature
French literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in France. It does not include French-language works by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest French literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame; Man's Fate)
novellas (such as The Little Prince)
• novel series (such as The Roads to Freedom; The Roads to Freedom)
• epic and long poems (such as The Song of Roland)
• plays (such as Le Cid; The Misanthrope)
• story collections (such as Tales of Mother Goose; Delta of Venus)
• poetry collections (such as Sagesse; Alcohols)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest French Literature list
The Greatest German Literature
German literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Germany. It does not include German-language works by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest German literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Sorrows of Young Werther; All Quiet on the Western Front)
novellas (such as Death in Venice; The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum)
• novel series (such as Josephus trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as King Rother)
• plays (such as William Tell; The Three-Penny Opera)
• story collections (such as Grimm's Fairy Tales; Couples, Passersby)
• poetry collections (such as Ship of Fools; Book of Songs)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest German Literature list
The Greatest Greek Literature
Greek literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the country of Greece or in the larger region of ancient Greece.
This list comprises the greatest Greek literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Daphnis and Chloe; Z)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as Iliad; Voyage of the Argonauts)
• plays (such as Oedipus Rex)
• play series (such as Oresteia)
• story collections (such as Aesop's Fables)
• poetry collections (such as Sappho's Poems; Mythistorema)
• biography collection (such as Parallel Lives)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Greek Literature list
The Greatest Irish Literature
Irish literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Ireland, including the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and their previous states.
This list comprises the greatest Irish literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Picture of Dorian Gray; Ulysses)
novellas (such as Castle Rackrent)
• novel series (such as The Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as The Tαin; The Ballad of Reading Gaol)
• plays (such as Pygmalion)
• play series (such as Back to Methuselah)
• story collections (such as In a Glass Darkly; Dubliners)
• poetry collections (such as The Book of Invasions, Station Island)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Irish Literature list
The Greatest Israeli Literature
Israeli literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Israel. It does not include works written in Hebrew by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest Israeli literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Mr. Mani)
novellas
• novel series (such as The Palace of Shattered Vessels)
• epic and long poems
• plays
• story collections (such as Twenty-One Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Shirot Bialik)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Israeli Literature list
The Greatest Italian Literature
Italian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Italy. It does not include Italian-language works by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest Italian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Adventures of Pinocchio; The Name of the Rose)
novellas (such as Invisible Cities)
• novel series (such as Our Ancestors)
• epic and long poems (such as The Divine Comedy)
• plays (such as Six Characters in Search of an Author;Accidental Death of an Anarchist)
• story collections (such as The Decameron; Cosmicomics)
• poetry collections (such as Canti; Curriculum)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Italian Literature list
The Greatest Japanese Literature
Japanese literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Japan.
This list comprises the greatest Japanese literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Tale of Genji)
novellas (such as The Strange Library)
• novel series (such as Sword Art Online)
• epic and long poems (such as The Tale of the Heike)
• plays (such as Atsumori; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)
• story collections (such as Tales of Moonlight and Rain)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Japanese Literature list
The Greatest Latin American Literature
Latin American literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in countries of Latin America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The literature of Caribbean countries, often considered part of Latin America, is not included here but has its own Greatest page.
This list comprises the greatest Latin American literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Love in the Time of Cholera)
novellas (such as Chronicle of a Death Foretold)
• novel series (such as Memory of Fire)
• novella series (such as Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll)
• epic and long poems (such as Martνn Fierro)
• plays
• story collections (such as The Aleph and Other Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Residence on Earth and Other Poems)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Latin American Literature list
The Greatest New Zealand Literature
New Zealand literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in New Zealand.
This list comprises the greatest New Zealand literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as A Man Lay Dead)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems
• plays
• story collections (such as The Garden Party and Other Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Can You Tolerate This?)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest New Zealand Literature list
The Greatest Nigerian Literature
Nigerian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Nigeria.
This list comprises the greatest Nigerian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Things Fall Apart)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems
• plays (such as Death and the King's Horseman)
• story collections (such as The Thing Around Your Neck)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Nigerian Literature list
The Greatest Nordic Literature
Nordic literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes. Collectively these places are often called Scandinavia but are more accurately termed Norden, which means "the North".
This list comprises the greatest Nordic literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Hunger; Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow)
novellas (such as Mio, My Son)
• novel series (such as The Emigrants; Millennium trilogy)
• novella series (such as Pippi Longstocking)
• epic and long poems (such as The Poetic Edda; The Saga of Burnt Njal)
• plays (such as A Dream Play; A Doll's House)
• story collections (such as Anecdotes of Destiny)
• poetry collections (such as For the Living and the Dead)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Nordic Literature list
The Greatest Norwegian Literature
Norwegian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Norway.
This list comprises the greatest Norwegian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as A Death in the Family)
novellas
• novel series (such as Kristin Lavransdatter)
• novella series (such as Wakefulness)
• epic and long poems
• plays (such as Hedda Gabler)
• story collections (such as What Shall We Do Today and Other Short Stories)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Norwegian Literature list
The Greatest Polish Literature
Polish literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Poland.
This list comprises the greatest Polish literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Man Without Qualities)
novellas
• novel series (such as Inspector Mock series)
• epic and long poems (such as Sir Thaddeus)
• plays (such as The Wedding)
• story collections (such as The Street of Crocodiles)
• poetry collections (such as Fables and Parables)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Polish Literature list
The Greatest Portuguese Literature
Portuguese literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Portugal.
This list comprises the greatest Portuguese literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Blindness)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as Maiden and Modest)
• plays (such as Farce of Inκs Pereira)
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as Poems of God and the Devil)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Portuguese Literature list
The Greatest Roman Literature
Roman literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the core region of ancient Rome, including the Roman city-state and the Italian Peninsula under Roman control.
This list comprises the greatest Roman literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Satyricon)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as Argonautica; Metamorphoses)
• plays (such as The Twin Brothers; Eunuchus)
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as Eclogues; Odes)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Roman Literature list
The Greatest Russian Literature
Russian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Russia. It does not include Russian-language works by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest Russian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as War and Peace; Doctor Zhivago)
novellas (such as Notes from Underground; One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich)
• novel series (such as Erast Fandorin; Alisa Selezneva)
• epic and long poems (such as The Bronze Horseman; A Cloud in Trousers)
• plays (such as The Storm; The Cherry Orchard)
• story collections (such as At Dusk; Odessa Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Requiem; A Part of Speech)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Russian Literature list
The Greatest South African Literature
South African literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in South Africa. That is, it covers the literature in the country of South Africa, not the region of Southern Africa.
This list comprises the greatest South African literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Cry, the Beloved Country)
novellas
• novel series
• epic and long poems
• plays (such as Sizwe Bansi Is Dead)
• story collections (You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest South African Literature list
The Greatest South Asian Literature
South Asian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Bangladesh, Bengal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and several other states that have existed historically in the area sometimes called the "Indian subcontinent".
This list comprises the greatest South Asian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The God of Small Things; The White Tiger)
novellas (such as The Broken Nest; Ghachar Ghochar)
• novel series
• epic and long poems (such as Ramayana; The Tale of an Anklet)
• plays (such as The Vision of Vasavadatta)
• story collections (such as Bunch of Stories; Quilt and Other Stories)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest South Asian Literature list
The Greatest Southeast Asian Literature
Southeast Asian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and several other states that have existed in the area south of China and east of South Asia.
This list comprises the greatest Southeast Asian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Crocodile's Tear)
novellas
• novel series (such as Supernova)
• epic and long poems (such as Lilit Phra Lo)
• plays
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as June Rain)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Southeast Asian Literature list
The Greatest Spanish Literature
Spanish literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Spain. It does not include Spanish-language works by authors living elsewhere.
This list comprises the greatest Spanish literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as Don Quixote; Solitude)
novellas (such as Lazarillo de Tormes)
• novel series (such as National Episodes)
• epic and long poems (such as The Poem of the Cid)
• plays (such as Bohemian Nights)
• story collections (such as Calila and Dimna)
• poetry collections (such as Gypsy Ballads)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Spanish Literature list
The Greatest Swedish Literature
Swedish literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Sweden.
This list comprises the greatest Swedish literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Emperor of Portugallia)
novellas (such as Doctor Glas)
• novel series (such as The Emigrants)
• novella series (such as Pippi Longstocking)
• epic and long poems (such as Aniara)
• plays (such as The Father)
• story collections
• poetry collections (such as Diwan on ther Prince of Emgion)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Swedish Literature list
The Greatest Swiss Literature
Swiss literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in Switzerland.
This list comprises the greatest Swiss literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
novels (such as The Glass Bead Game)
novellas (Siddhartha)
• novel series (such as Cairo Trilogy)
• epic and long poems (such as Song of Lawino)
• plays (such as The Visit; Homo Faber)
• story collections (such as The Jewel)
• poetry collections
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest Swiss Literature list
The Greatest West Asian Literature
West Asian literature is defined here as writing by authors residing in the region Eurocentrically called the "Near East" or "Middle East". It includes the countries of Anatolia, Armenia, Assyria, Azerbaijan, Babylon, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Judah, Oman, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Persia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey.
The literature of Egypt, sometimes considered part of this area, is not included but appears rather on the Greatest African Literature list.
This list comprises the greatest West Asian literature of all times, cultures and genres. It focuses on major creative (fictional) works.
What's on the list:
• novels (such as A True Story; My Name Is Red)
• novellas
• novel series (such as The Palace of Shattered Vessels)
• epic and long poems (such as Epic of Gilgasmesh)
• plays
• story collections (such as The Garden; Twenty-One Stories)
• poetry collections (such as Rubaiyat; The Orchard)
What isn't:
• nonfiction
• short stories
• short poems
Back to The Greatest West Asian Literature list
