The Greatest Experimental Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2 Ulysses James Joyce 1922 Irish English
110 Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov 1962 American English
153 The Waste Land T. S. Eliot 1922 British English
184 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
198 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson 1971 American English
207 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
219 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon 1973 American English
246 Molloy Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
256 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
275 At Swim Two-Birds Flann O'Brien 1939 Irish English
276 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
283 Death of Virgil Hermann Broch 1945 Austrian German
284 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
292 Finnegans Wake James Joyce 1939 Irish English
307 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
331 Speak, Memory Vladimir Nabokov 1951 American English
333 Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs 1959 American English
339 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
342 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
344 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
348 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
350 Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1781 German German
361 The Education of Henry Adams Henry Adams 1907 American English
371 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
382 The Glass Bead Game Hermann Hesse 1943 German German
384 Ferdydurke Witold Gombrowicz 1937 Polish Polish
387 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe 1968 American English
391 Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein 1953 Austrian German
395 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1824 Scottish English
415 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
436 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
441 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
455 Ada or Ardor Vladimir Nabokov 1969 American English
477 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
479 The Unnamable Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
481 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
484 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
490 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
491 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig 1974 American English
519 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
538 The Recognitions William Gaddis 1955 American English
539 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño 1998 Chilean Spanish
550 The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake William Blake 1827 British English
551 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
556 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
568 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein 1921 Austrian German
575 Crash J. G. Ballard 1973 British English
591 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
599 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
619 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
620 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
671 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
678 V Thomas Pynchon 1963 American English
681 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
685 Franny and Zooey J. D. Salinger 1961 American English
697 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
721 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
734 Jakob Von Gunten Robert Walser 1909 Swiss German
735 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
741 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
758 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
759 Three Trapped Tigers Guillermo Cabrera Infante 1965 Cuban Spanish
768 Ubik Philip K. Dick 1969 American English
785 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
786 Anniversaries Uwe Johnson 1970 German German
801 Poet in New York Federico García Lorca 1940 Spanish Spanish
811 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
816 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
852 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
864 Auto Da Fé Elias Canetti 1935 Bulgarian German
877 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
879 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
887 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
899 Howl and Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
906 Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet 1957 French French
913 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
916 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
918 Ways Of Seeing John Berger 1972 British English
951 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
952 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
982 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
1020 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
1034 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1049 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1062 The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr E. T. A. Hoffmann 1819 German German
1083 The Labyrinth of Solitude Octavio Paz 1950 Mexican Spanish
1087 The Solitudes Luis de Góngora 1613 Spanish Spanish
1093 Gödel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1979 American English
1106 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
1163 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
1165 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
1179 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1185 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
1202 Extinction Thomas Bernhard 1986 Austrian German
1204 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1213 The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald 1995 German German
1243 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1252 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
1268 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1274 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1280 All about H. Hatterr G. V. Desani 1948 Indian English
1298 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
1299 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1301 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1304 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
1308 Alcools Guillaume Apollinaire 1913 French French
1310 Greguerias Ramón Gómez de la Serna 1910 Spanish Spanish
1311 W, or the Memory of Childhood Georges Perec 1975 French French
1329 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1336 The Cantos Ezra Pound 1933 American English
1343 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
1347 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1357 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1408 Watt Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish English
1414 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1417 Phenomenology of Mind G. W. F. Hegel 1807 German German
1443 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
1462 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
1469 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French