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
6411 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
6427 Le Pays Où Tout Est Permis Sophie Podolski 1979 Unknown French
6439 The Gaudy Image William Talsman 1958 American English
6458 The Essential Ellison Harlan Ellison 1987 American English
6461 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6472 The Sound Of My Voice Ron Butlin 1987 British English
6476 War & War László Krasznahorkai 1999 Hungarian Hungarian
6486 The Philosopher's Stone Colin Wilson 1969 British English
6503 The End Of The Road John Barth 1958 American English
6516 Language, Truth, And Logic A. J. Ayer 1936 British English
6517 Ghost Image Hervé Guibert 1981 French French
6524 Le Coq Et L'arlequin Jean Cocteau 1918 French French
6542 F Dumitru Radu Popescu 2000 Romanian Unknown
6567 Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming László Krasznahorkai 2016 Hungarian Hungarian
6575 Phenomenology Of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1945 French French
6594 Centuria Giorgio Manganelli 1979 Italian Italian
6608 The Anomaly Hervé Le Tellier 2020 French French
6616 The Poetics Of Space Gaston Bachelard 1958 French French
6621 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French
6633 Reveries Of The Wild Woman Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
6637 The Curse Of Lono Hunter S. Thompson 1983 American English
6637 The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1983 French French
6637 The Ruin Of Kasch Roberto Calasso 1983 Italian Italian
6637 The Stadium Of Wimbledon Daniele del Giudice 1983 Italian Italian
6688 Le Drame De La Vie & Le Discours Aux Animaux Valère Novarina 1984 French French
6698 Landscapes After the Battle Juan Goytisolo 1982 Spanish Spanish
6709 Knížka S červeným Obalem Alexandra Berková 1986 Czech Czech
6717 Human, All Too Human Friedrich Nietzsche 1878 German German
6715 The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind Julian Jaynes 1976 American English
6737 Emergence Steven Johnson 2001 American English
6787 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments Saidiya Hartman 2019 American English
6811 Écrits Jacques Lacan 1966 French French
6821 Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography And First Romance Mark Twain 1871 American English
6846 Three Georges Perec 1991 French French
6851 Apeirogon Colum McCann 2020 Irish English
6854 Chelsea Girls Eileen Myles 1994 American English
6860 Meditations On The Tarot Unknown 1980 Unknown French
6872 Eustace Chisholm And The Works James Purdy 1967 American English
6901 Raymond And Hannah Stephen Marche 2005 Canadian English
6903 Selected Poems II Margaret Atwood 1987 Canadian English
6912 Herrumbrosas Lanzas Juan Benet 1983 Spanish Spanish
6924 Życie Jest Gdzie Indziej Milan Kundera 1989 Czech Czech
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
6948 The Fantastic In Literature Eric S. Rabkin 1976 American English
6963 Sheeper Irving Rosenthal 1967 American English
6972 The Exquisite Corpse Alfred Chester 1967 American English
6981 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6984 Sleeping It Off in Rapid City August Kleinzahler 2008 American English
6991 The Employees Olga Ravn 2018 Danish Danish
6996 You Don't Love Yourself Nathalie Sarraute 1989 French French
7001 Collected Poems Jack Gilbert 2012 American English
7038 The Afterlife Of George Cartwright John Steffler 1992 Canadian English
7056 Some Thing Black Jacques Roubaud 1990 French French
7080 The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt 2014 American English
7096 Try Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7096 Guide Dennis Cooper 1994 American English
7100 Les Guerilleres Monique Wittig 1969 French French
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7120 A Louis Zukofsky 1991 American English
7120 The Color Of Summer Reinaldo Arenas 1991 Cuban Spanish
7157 La Horde Du Contrevent Alain Damasio 2004 French French
7176 Out Of Sheer Rage Geoff Dyer 1997 British English
7200 The Language Of The Night Ursula K. Le Guin 1979 American English
7206 Animalinside László Krasznahorkai, Max Neumann 2010 Hungarian Hungarian
7213 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
7216 Aurelia Gerard de Nerval 1855 French French
7216 Eureka Edgar Allan Poe 1848 American English
7216 Selected Works Alfred Jarry 1901 French French
7216 Seven Dada Manifestoes Tristan Tzara 1924 French French
7216 The Use Of Speech Nathalie Sarraute 1933 French French
7216 The King Of Time Velimir Khlebnikov 1920 Russian Russian
7216 The Geographical History Of America Gertrude Stein 1936 American English
7216 The Journal Of Albion Moonlight Kenneth Patchen 1941 American English
7216 Europe After The Rain Alan Burns 1965 British English
7216 Tamarisk Row Gerald Murnane 1974 Australian English
7216 The Empty Book Josefina Vicens 1958 Mexican English
7586 After Sappho Selby Wynn Schwartz 2023 Unknown English
7603 The Beginning Of Infinity David Deutsch 2011 British English
7605 Mourir M'enrhume Eric Chevillard 1993 French French
7606 L'interruption Dominique Noguez 1993 French French
7606 Writing Marguerite Duras 1993 French French
7612 Selected Poetry And Prose Stéphane Mallarmé 1945 French French
7626 Caietul Albastru Nicolae Balotă 2007 Romanian Romanian
7627 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7632 Telephone Percival Everett 2020 American English
7635 The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 2012 New Zealander English
7656 Paterson William Carlos Williams 1946 American English
7664 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
7683 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7691 Dark Gods T. E. D. Klein 1985 American English
7717 Selected Writings Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
7726 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7737 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
7744 My Life and My Life in the Nineties Lyn Hejinian 1980 American English
7747 Lifted Bill Manhire 2006 New Zealand English
7749 Geography Iii Elizabeth Bishop 1976 American English
7756 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7754 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7772 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7794 The Gay Science Friedrich Nietzsche 1882 German German
7820 Selected Writings Henri Michaux 1949 French French
7820 Five Novels Ronald Firbank 1949 British English
7828 Mezi Oknem, Stolem A Postelí Petr Borkovec 1996 Czech Czech
7819 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
7857 Autobiography Of Red Anne Carson 1998 Canadian English
7861 The Plains Gerald Murnane 1982 Australian English
7897 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7900 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
7915 The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 2007 American English
7940 The Fourth World Diamela Eltit 1988 Chilean Spanish
7942 Phantom Pain Wings Kim Hye-soon 2019 Korean Korean
7944 Lover Bertha Harris 1976 American English
7959 La Casa De La Fuerza Angélica Liddell 2009 Spanish Spanish
7967 Selected Writings Guillaume Apollinaire 1952 French French
7967 The Anathemata David Jones 1952 British English
8001 Fragmentos De Un Libro Futuro José Ángel Valente 2000 Spanish Spanish
8009 Victims Of Duty Eugène Ionesco 1953 French French
8025 Gender Outlaw Kate Bornstein 1994 American English
8032 A Barbarian In Asia Henri Michaux 1933 French French
8046 Masques J. N. Williamson 1984 American English