The answer to the question of the greatest in the world is very broad because there are different definition and standards of greatness. The following are some of the most widely regarded as the greatest in the world: - William shakespeare: renaissance england is known as the greatest in western literature. His works include Hamlet and King Lear. - Dickens: The greatest works in the history of English literature include David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. - Victor Hugo: The greatest works in the history of French literature include "Miserables" and "Notre-Dame de Paris". - Owen: The greatest works in the history of English literature include Heine and River Camus. - Balzac: The greatest works in the history of French literature include Comedy on Earth and Pérot Goriot. - Tolstoy: The greatest works in the history of Russian literature include War and Peace and Anna Karenina. - Maugham: The greatest works in the history of English literature include The Moon and Sixpence and The Chains of Human Nature. In addition to the above, there were many other great people such as Cao Xueqin, Lu Xun, Ernest Hemmingway, Faulkner, Calvino, Margaret Atwood, etc.