The Greatest Experimental Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3 Ulysses James Joyce 1922 Irish English
58 The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne 1759 British English
87 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
166 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon 1973 American English
170 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
182 The Waste Land T. S. Eliot 1922 British English
185 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
194 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
199 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
221 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
244 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
247 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
248 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
257 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
260 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño 1998 Chilean Spanish
269 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
279 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
289 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
310 Finnegans Wake James Joyce 1939 Irish English
322 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
326 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
343 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
344 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
353 Death of Virgil Hermann Broch 1945 Austrian German
377 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
413 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
418 Ferdydurke Witold Gombrowicz 1937 Polish Polish
429 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
442 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
451 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1824 Scottish English
454 Speak, Memory Vladimir Nabokov 1951 American English
457 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
462 The Unnamable Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
467 The Glass Bead Game Hermann Hesse 1943 German German
469 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
498 Ada or Ardor Vladimir Nabokov 1969 American English
506 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
507 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
509 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
511 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
531 V Thomas Pynchon 1963 American English
543 Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein 1953 Austrian German
544 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
551 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
554 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
566 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
570 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
604 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
608 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
614 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
625 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
639 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
658 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
665 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
668 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
672 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
674 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
676 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
679 Franny and Zooey J. D. Salinger 1961 American English
683 The Recognitions William Gaddis 1955 American English
709 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
717 Three Trapped Tigers Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1965 Cuban Spanish
730 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
745 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
748 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
760 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
805 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
818 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
832 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
842 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
860 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein 1921 Austrian German
864 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
868 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
873 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
878 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
911 Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet 1957 French French
924 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
934 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
938 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
940 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
954 Auto Da Fé Elias Canetti 1935 Bulgarian German
974 Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1781 German German
994 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
998 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
1000 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
1018 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1035 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
1037 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1055 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
1070 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
1087 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
1098 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1101 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
1102 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1104 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1159 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
1162 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
1167 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1178 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
1200 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
1207 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
1229 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1240 How Late It Was, How Late James Kelman 1994 Scottish English
1247 JR William Gaddis 1975 American English
1261 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1266 Blood and Guts in High School Kathy Acker 1978 American English
1296 Dept. of Speculation Jenny Offill 2014 American English
1299 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1307 Alcools Guillaume Apollinaire 1913 French French
1315 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1317 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1335 The Bald Soprano Eugène Ionesco 1950 French French
1336 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
1370 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1393 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1425 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
1449 Titus Alone Mervyn Peake 1959 British English
1464 Poet in New York Federico García Lorca 1940 Spanish Spanish
1501 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
1517 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English