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
2844 Nova Express William S. Burroughs 1964 American English
2885 The Invention of Solitude Paul Auster 1982 American English
2907 Mannen utan väg Erik Lindegren 1942 Swedish Swedish
2946 Betty Blue Philippe Djian 1985 French French
2957 Lunch Poems Frank O'Hara 1964 American English
2980 The Golden Gate Vikram Seth 1986 Indian English
2991 The Atrocity Exhibition J. G. Ballard 1970 British English
2991 The Poems Of Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
2991 Blasting And Bombardiering Wyndham Lewis 1937 British English
3027 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
3039 The Blazing World Margaret Cavendish 1666 British English
3041 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
3045 The Songlines Bruce Chatwin 1987 British English
3075 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
3084 Body Rags Galway Kinnell 1968 American English
3084 The Voices of Marrakesh Elias Canetti 1968 Bulgarian German
3084 Concrete Thomas Bernhard 1982 Austrian German
3084 Greguerias Ramón Gómez de la Serna 1910 Spanish Spanish
3084 Leviathan Arno Schmidt 1949 German German
3084 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
3084 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
3213 Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins 1966 Irish English
3217 On Wings Of Song Thomas M. Disch 1979 American English
3217 The Quest For Corvo A. J. A. Symons 1934 British English
3217 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3291 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
3302 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3312 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
3325 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
3328 The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos 1930 American English
3335 Le Coq Et L'arlequin Jean Cocteau 1918 French French
3340 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3339 April Fool's Day Josip Novakovich 2004 Croatian English
3377 The Land At The End Of The World António Lobo Antunes 1979 Portuguese Portuguese
3378 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
3378 A Wake For The Living Radmila Lazić 1996 Serbian Serbian
3378 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
3378 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3378 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
3378 Negative Space Luljeta Lleshanaku 2018 Albanian Albanian
3378 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
3378 Alindarka’s Children Alhierld Bakharevich 2014 Belarusian Belarusian
3378 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
3378 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3378 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
3378 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
3596 Capital of Pain Paul Éluard 1926 French French
3600 Writing Degree Zero Roland Barthes 1953 French French
3619 Tropisms Nathalie Sarraute 1939 French French
3622 Écrits Jacques Lacan 1966 French French
3623 The Theater and Its Double Antonin Artaud 1938 French French
3635 Furor and Mystery René Char 1948 French French
3649 Amers Saint-John Perse 1957 French French
3659 The Waste Books Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1770 German German
3659 Lenz Georg Buchner 1836 German German
3659 Human, All Too Human Friedrich Nietzsche 1878 German German
3659 Querelle of Brest Jean Genet 1947 French French
3659 Selected Poems II Margaret Atwood 1987 Canadian English
3659 Count Julian Juan Goytisolo 1970 Spanish Spanish
3659 Palace of the Peacock Wilson Harris 1960 Guyanese English
3659 Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg 1984 American English
3659 Aids And Its Metaphors Susan Sontag 1989 American English
3659 Dancing At The Edge Of The World Ursula K. Le Guin 1989 American English
3659 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
3659 The Pegnitz Junction Mavis Gallant 1973 Canadian English
3659 Saints And Strangers Angela Carter 1985 British English
3659 The Straight Mind Monique Wittig 1992 French French
3659 Through The Arc Of The Rain Forest Karen Tei Yamashita 1990 American English
3659 A War Of Eyes And Other Stories Wanda Coleman 1988 American English
3659 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
3659 The Woman Who Was Not All There Paula Sharp 1988 American English
3659 The Unlimited Dream Company J. G. Ballard 1979 British English
4162 Chevengur Andrey Platonov 1928 Russian Russian
4165 A School For Fools Sasha Sokolov 1976 Russian Russian
4175 Deliver Us From Love Suzanne Brogger 1976 Danish Danish
4182 Language, Truth, And Logic A. J. Ayer 1936 British English
4186 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
4196 The Luzhin Defense Vladimir Nabokov 1930 Russian Russian
4207 A Poem Without A Hero Anna Akhmatova 1960 Russian Russian
4216 Phenomenology Of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1945 French French
4232 Norma Vladimir Sorokin 1970 Russian Russian
4240 A Cloud In Trousers Vladimir Mayakovsky 1915 Russian Russian
4241 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4255 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
4262 The Message In the Bottle Walker Percy 1975 American English
4269 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4274 Art and Culture Clement Greenberg 1961 American English
4274 Behaviorism John Watson 1924 American English
4274 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4274 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
4274 Eucalyptus Murray Bail 1998 Australian English
4272 The Time Ludmila Petrushevskaya 1992 Russian Russian
4274 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
4274 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
4274 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
4274 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
4274 Gog Andrew Sinclair 1967 British English
4274 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
4274 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
4274 Χαιρε Ποτε Kiki Dimoula 1988 Greek Greek
4274 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
4274 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
4274 The Elegies Of Oxopetra Odysseas Elytis 1991 Greek Greek
4274 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
4274 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4274 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
4274 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
4274 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4274 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
4274 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
4274 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
4274 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
4274 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
4274 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
4274 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
4724 Dart Alice Oswald 2002 British English
4746 The Plum in the Golden Vase Unknown 1610 Chinese Chinese
4783 Fact, Fiction, And Forecast Nelson Goodman 1955 American English
4806 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
4817 The Soft Machine William S. Burroughs 1961 American English