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100 Stories That Shaped the World

"I rarely find someone, really anyone, who doesn't know some part of this story – the idea of the lost man who can't get home after the war… the woman at home with the suitors. Everyone can tell me some version of it, which is to say, it lives in them." – Tess Taylor, poet, on Homer's Odyssey
In April 2018, BBC Culture polled experts around the world to nominate up to five fictional stories they felt had shaped mindsets or influenced history. We received answers from 108 authors, academics, journalists, critics and translators in 35 countries – their choices took in novels, poems, folk tales and dramas in 33 different languages, including Sumerian, K'iche and Ge'ez.
The list was determined via ranked ballots and first placed into descending order by number of critic votes, then into descending order by total critic points, then alphabetically (for 73 to 100, the titles listed are tied).
4,072 users · 17,990 views
 
from bbc.com · made by Vera Rossakoff
avg. score: 24 of 100 (24%)
required scores: 1, 14, 19, 25, 33 

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The Odyssey (Homer)
The Odyssey
1
Homer
Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
2
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Frankenstein
3
Mary Shelley
Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)
Nineteen Eighty-Four
4
George Orwell
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
Things Fall Apart
5
Chinua Achebe
One Thousand and One Nights (Anonymous)
One Thousand and One Nights
6
Anonymous
Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes)
Don Quixote
7
Miguel De Cervantes
Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
Hamlet
8
William Shakespeare
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude
9
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Iliad (Homer)
The Iliad
10
Homer
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
Beloved
11
Toni Morrison
The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri)
The Divine Comedy
12
Dante Alighieri
Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)
Romeo and Juliet
13
William Shakespeare
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Anonymous)
The Epic of Gilgamesh
14
Anonymous
Harry Potter Series (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter Series
15
J.K. Rowling
The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
The Handmaid's Tale
16
Margaret Atwood
Ulysses (James Joyce)
Ulysses
17
James Joyce
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
Animal Farm
18
George Orwell
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Jane Eyre
19
Charlotte Bronte
Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)
Madame Bovary
20
Gustave Flaubert
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
21
Luo Guanzhong
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Pride and Prejudice
22
Jane Austen
Journey to the West
Journey to the West
23
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
24
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh (Shi Naian)
Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh
25
Shi Naian
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
War and Peace
26
Leo Tolstoy
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
To Kill a Mockingbird
27
Harper Lee
Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)
Wide Sargasso Sea
28
Jean Rhys
Aesop's Fables (Aesop)
Aesop's Fables
29
Aesop
Candide (Voltaire)
Candide
30
Voltaire
Medea (Euripides)
Medea
31
Euripides
The Mahabharata by Vyasa
The Mahabharata by Vyasa
32
King Lear (William Shakespeare)
King Lear
33
William Shakespeare
The Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu)
The Tale of Genji
34
Murasaki Shikibu
The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
The Sorrows of Young Werther
35
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The Trial (Franz Kafka)
The Trial
36
Franz Kafka
Remembrance of Things Past (Marcel Proust)
Remembrance of Things Past
37
Marcel Proust
Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)
Wuthering Heights
38
Emily Brontë
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
Invisible Man
39
Ralph Ellison
Moby Dick (Herman Melville)
Moby Dick
40
Herman Melville
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