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
2799 Body Rags Galway Kinnell 1968 American English
2799 The Voices of Marrakesh Elias Canetti 1968 Bulgarian German
2799 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
2799 Greguerias Ramón Gómez de la Serna 1910 Spanish Spanish
2799 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
2799 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
2919 The Planetarium Nathalie Sarraute 1959 French French
2923 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
2943 Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 American English
2953 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
2953 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3046 Spring And All William Carlos Williams 1923 American English
3052 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
3066 Going Native Stephen Wright 1994 American English
3073 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
3076 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3085 Le Coq Et L'arlequin Jean Cocteau 1918 French French
3089 April Fool's Day Josip Novakovich 2004 Croatian English
3126 The Land At The End Of The World António Lobo Antunes 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
3312 The Voyeur Alain Robbe-Grillet 1955 French French
3127 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
3127 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
3127 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
3127 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3127 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
3127 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
3127 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
3127 Alindarka’s Children Alhierld Bakharevich 2014 Belarusian Belarusian
3127 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
3127 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3127 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
3127 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
3332 How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe Charles Yu 2010 American English
3366 Nova Express William S. Burroughs 1964 American English
3374 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
3379 Writing Degree Zero Roland Barthes 1953 French French
3396 Tropisms Nathalie Sarraute 1939 French French
3398 Écrits Jacques Lacan 1966 French French
3400 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3406 Furor and Mystery René Char 1948 French French
3415 Amers Saint-John Perse 1957 French French
3420 The Waste Books Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1770 German German
3420 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
3420 Human, All Too Human Friedrich Nietzsche 1878 German German
3420 Querelle of Brest Jean Genet 1947 French French
3420 Selected Poems II Margaret Atwood 1987 Canadian English
3420 Count Julian Juan Goytisolo 1970 Spanish Spanish
3420 Palace of the Peacock Wilson Harris 1960 Guyanese English
3420 Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg 1984 American English
3420 Aids And Its Metaphors Susan Sontag 1989 American English
3420 Dancing At The Edge Of The World Ursula K. Le Guin 1989 American English
3420 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
3420 The Pegnitz Junction Mavis Gallant 1973 Canadian English
3420 Saints And Strangers Angela Carter 1985 British English
3420 The Straight Mind Monique Wittig 1992 French French
3420 Through The Arc Of The Rain Forest Karen Tei Yamashita 1990 American English
3420 A War Of Eyes And Other Stories Wanda Coleman 1988 American English
3420 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
3420 The Woman Who Was Not All There Paula Sharp 1988 American English
3928 Betty Blue Philippe Djian 1985 French French
3940 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
3941 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
3968 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
3978 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
3986 The Unlimited Dream Company J. G. Ballard 1979 British English
4025 Norma Vladimir Sorokin 1970 Russian Russian
4031 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
4032 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4044 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
4057 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4063 Art and Culture Clement Greenberg 1961 American English
4063 Behaviorism John Watson 1924 American English
4063 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4063 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
4063 Eucalyptus Murray Bail 1998 Australian English
4062 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
4063 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
4063 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
4063 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
4063 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
4063 Gog Andrew Sinclair 1967 British English
4063 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
4063 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
4063 Χαιρε Ποτε Kiki Dimoula 1988 Greek Greek
4063 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
4063 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
4063 The Elegies Of Oxopetra Odysseas Elytis 1991 Greek Greek
4063 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
4063 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4063 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
4063 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
4063 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4063 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
4063 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
4063 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
4063 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
4063 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
4063 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
4063 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
4507 Deliver Us From Love Suzanne Brogger 1976 Danish Danish
4512 Language, Truth, And Logic A. J. Ayer 1936 British English
4519 The Female Man Joanna Russ 1975 American English
4520 Phenomenology Of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1945 French French
4523 The Message In the Bottle Walker Percy 1975 American English
4530 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
4533 The Plum in the Golden Vase Unknown 1610 Chinese Chinese
4560 The Golden Gate Vikram Seth 1986 Indian English
4569 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin 1987 British English
4594 Fact, Fiction, And Forecast Nelson Goodman 1955 American English
4605 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
4630 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
4640 A Journey Round My Skull Frigyes Karinthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
4648 From A Logical Point Of View Willard Van Orman Quine 1953 American English
4669 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
4669 Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt 2012 American English
4669 A Short History Of Women Kate Walbert 2009 American English
4775 The Soft Machine William S. Burroughs 1961 American English
4775 The Ticket That Exploded William S. Burroughs 1962 American English
4778 Take It Or Leave It Raymond Federman 1976 American English
4784 The Stain Rikki Ducornet 1984 American English