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
2 Ulysses James Joyce 1922 Irish English
100 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
167 The Waste Land T. S. Eliot 1922 British English
181 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
195 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
204 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
213 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon 1973 American English
237 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
249 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
268 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
269 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
275 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
285 Finnegans Wake James Joyce 1939 Irish English
299 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
320 Speak, Memory Vladimir Nabokov 1951 American English
321 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
327 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
328 Death of Virgil Hermann Broch 1945 Austrian German
331 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
337 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
339 Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1781 German German
351 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
360 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
361 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
373 The Glass Bead Game Hermann Hesse 1943 German German
375 Ferdydurke Witold Gombrowicz 1937 Polish Polish
380 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
384 Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein 1953 Austrian German
389 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1824 Scottish English
410 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
435 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
448 Ada or Ardor Vladimir Nabokov 1969 American English
468 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
470 The Unnamable Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
473 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
476 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
482 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
483 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
523 The Recognitions William Gaddis 1955 American English
524 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño 1998 Chilean Spanish
534 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
535 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
541 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
553 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein 1921 Austrian German
560 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
566 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
579 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
587 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
608 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
609 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
647 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
668 V Thomas Pynchon 1963 American English
672 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
676 Franny and Zooey J. D. Salinger 1961 American English
688 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
710 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
720 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
721 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
727 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
743 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
744 Three Trapped Tigers Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1965 Cuban Spanish
753 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
770 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
771 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
795 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
800 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
832 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
843 Auto Da Fé Elias Canetti 1935 Bulgarian German
856 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
858 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
865 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
877 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
885 Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet 1957 French French
892 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
895 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
896 Ways Of Seeing John Berger 1972 British English
931 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
932 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
935 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
960 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
998 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
1013 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1026 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1040 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1062 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
1071 Gödel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1979 American English
1084 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
1131 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1140 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
1142 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
1156 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1163 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
1180 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1188 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
1217 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1226 Poet in New York Federico García Lorca 1940 Spanish Spanish
1240 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1246 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1251 All about H. Hatterr G. V. Desani 1948 Indian English
1270 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
1271 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1273 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1276 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
1280 Alcools Guillaume Apollinaire 1913 French French
1299 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1306 The Cantos Ezra Pound 1933 American English
1314 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
1318 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1327 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1380 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
1385 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1388 Phenomenology of Mind G. W. F. Hegel 1807 German German
1414 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
1431 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
1438 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French
1461 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
1469 Aspects of the Novel E. M. Forster 1927 British English
1471 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1473 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
1476 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon 1937 British English