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
1450 A Void Georges Perec 1969 French French
1459 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
1466 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
1473 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
1480 Two Serious Ladies Jane Bowles 1943 American English
1483 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
1489 Story of the Eye Georges Bataille 1928 French French
1492 Mumbo Jumbo Ishmael Reed 1972 American English
1493 On the Heights of Despair Emil Cioran 1934 Romanian Romanian
1494 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
1501 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 American English
1513 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud 1886 French French
1514 Furor and Mystery René Char 1948 French French
1519 Locus Solus Raymond Roussel 1914 French French
1533 Trilce César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
1533 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
1535 The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton 1621 British English
1553 Los lanzallamas Roberto Arlt 1931 Argentinian Spanish
1557 The Plum in the Golden Vase Unknown 1610 Chinese Chinese
1567 The Poems of Jaime Gil de Biedma
 Jaime Gil de Biedma
 1960 Spanish Spanish
1569 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
1594 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 1997 American English
1600 Sixty Stories Donald Barthelme 1981 American English
1601 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
1612 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
1619 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1624 The Americans Robert Frank 1959 American English
1626 The Left-Handed Woman Peter Handke 1976 Austrian German
1627 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
1653 The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Vladimir Nabokov 1941 Russian English
1654 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
1665 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany 1975 American English
1669 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
1684 Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin 1977 French English
1688 Poems Paul Celan 1952 German German
1694 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
1701 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1714 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
1721 The Egghead Republic Arno Schmidt 1957 German German
1729 Mannen utan väg Erik Lindegren 1942 Swedish Swedish
1732 Howl, Kaddish And Other Poems Allen Ginsberg 1956 American English
1735 The Garden Of Forking Paths Jorge Luis Borges 1941 Argentinian Spanish
1736 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
1743 The Nature of Things Francis Ponge 1942 French French
1747 The Cantos Ezra Pound 1933 American English
1765 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1774 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1779 The Floating Opera John Barth 1956 American English
1782 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
1785 Demian Hermann Hesse 1919 German German
1787 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
1819 Spain, Take This Chalice from Me César Vallejo 1939 Peruvian Spanish
1820 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
1821 Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Scriblerus Club 1741 British English
1821 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
1821 Impressions of Africa Raymond Roussel 1910 French French
1821 Tarr Wyndham Lewis 1918 British English
1821 The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis 1930 British English
1821 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
1821 Insatiability Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 1930 Polish Polish
1821 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
1821 Dangling Man Saul Bellow 1944 American English
1821 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
1821 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
1821 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French
1821 Asphodel Hilda Doolittle 1921 American English
1876 Poems of Góngora Luis de Góngora 1601 Spanish Spanish
1898 The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo César Vallejo 1968 Peruvian Spanish
1902 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
1920 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
1923 Giles Goat-Boy John Barth 1966 American English
1928 Wry-Blue Loves Tristan Corbière 1873 French French
1942 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1945 King Ubu Alfred Jarry 1896 French French
1950 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
1952 The ABC of Reading Ezra Pound 1934 American English
1959 Gödel, Escher, Bach Douglas Hofstadter 1979 American English
1974 The Poems Of Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
2016 The Medium Is The Massage Marshall McLuhan 1967 Canadian English
2025 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
2027 Faces In The Water Janet Frame 1961 New Zealander English
2031 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2055 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
2066 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
2075 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
2079 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
2093 Looking Back Norman Douglas 1933 British English
2108 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
2116 The Prose Of The Trans Siberian Blaise Cendrars 1913 French French
2119 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
2151 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2164 The Clay Machine-gun Victor Pelevin 1996 Russian Russian
2192 Subconscious Opens Like A Fan Yona Wallach 1985 Israeli Hebrew
2199 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
2245 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
2250 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
2258 Palace of the Peacock Wilson Harris 1960 Guyanese English
2268 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
2268 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
2268 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
2268 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
2268 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
2268 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
2268 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
2268 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
2268 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
2268 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
2268 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
2385 In Watermelon Sugar Richard Brautigan 1968 American English
2389 Oreo Fran Ross 1974 American English
2395 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2410 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
2416 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
2418 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
2467 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
2480 The Book Of Questions Edmond Jabès 1963 French French
2494 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
2502 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
2510 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
2519 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian