The best German-language novels
The top 3 according to 2 votes from people: Berlin Alexanderplatz · The Tin Drum · The Magic Mountain. (Updated Aug 27, 2020.)
The novels that keep appearing in Marcel Reich-Ranicki's canon, the Literaturhaus poll of the best German novels of the 20th century and the major classics lists.
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 20
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1
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Alfred Döblin, 1929. Franz Biberkopf after prison in Weimar-era Berlin.
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2
The Tin Drum
Günter Grass, 1959. Oskar Matzerath stops growing at three; Danzig from the 1920s to the war.
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3
The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann, 1924. Hans Castorp visits his cousin at a Davos sanatorium and stays seven years.
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4
The Trial
Franz Kafka, 1925. Josef K. is arrested one morning without knowing why.
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5
Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann, 1901. The decline of a Lübeck merchant family; the basis of his Nobel Prize.
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6
The Man Without Qualities
Robert Musil, 1930–1943. Ulrich in 1913 Vienna; unfinished and monumental.
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7
Effi Briest
Theodor Fontane, 1896. A young woman, a loveless marriage and a duel over old letters.
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8
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774. Werther's unhappy love for Lotte; it sparked a 'Werther fever'.
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9
The Castle
Franz Kafka, 1926. The land surveyor K. tries in vain to reach the Castle.
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10
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque, 1928. World War I through the eyes of young soldier Paul Bäumer.
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11
Steppenwolf
Hermann Hesse, 1927. Harry Haller between bourgeois life and the 'magic theatre'.
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12
Perfume
Patrick Süskind, 1985. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a murderer with no scent of his own in 18th-century France.
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13
Anniversaries
Uwe Johnson, 1970–1983. Gesine Cresspahl tells her daughter about Mecklenburg for a year in New York.
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14
Man of Straw
Heinrich Mann, 1918. Diederich Hessling, the prototype of the servile Wilhelmine subject.
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15
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse, 1922. A young Brahmin's search for enlightenment.
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16
Elective Affinities
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1809. Two couples and the chemistry of attraction.
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17
Green Henry
Gottfried Keller, 1855. A young painter from Zurich seeks his path; a great coming-of-age novel.
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18
The Aesthetics of Resistance
Peter Weiss, 1975–1981. Young workers in the anti-fascist resistance and their engagement with art.
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19
Homo Faber
Max Frisch, 1957. An engineer who believes in technology and chance, and a journey that changes everything.
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20
The Reader
Bernhard Schlink, 1995. A boy, an older woman and a Nazi trial; the first German novel to top the New York Times best-seller list.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (8)
Der Steppenwolf hat mich als Teenager umgehauen.
Habe den Zauberberg endlich fertig gelesen, hat zwei Jahre gedauert 😅
Das Parfum ganz unten? Das ist doch ein Klassiker!
Buddenbrooks habe ich in der Schule gelesen und erst Jahre später verstanden, wie gut das ist.
Der Process von Kafka ist für mich das beste deutschsprachige Buch, so beklemmend.
Der Zauberberg auf Platz 1, ein Monster von einem Buch, aber es lohnt sich.
Effi Briest in der Schule war Folter 😂
Im Westen nichts Neues sollte jeder einmal lesen.