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
10036 Poems Of John Ashbery John Ashbery 1977 American English
10059 Campo De Retamas Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio 2013 Spanish Spanish
10071 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10093 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10135 Maitreya Severo Sarduy 1978 Cuban Spanish
10135 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10166 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10178 Insane Rainald Goetz 1983 German German
10179 Harmada João Gilberto Noll 1993 Brazilian Portuguese
10199 Monsieur, Or The Prince Of Darkness Lawrence Durrell 1974 British English
10204 Peripathetic Cher Tan 2020 Unknown English
10205 Neuromaani Jaakko Yli-Juonikas 2012 Finnish Finnish
10206 The Pegnitz Junction Mavis Gallant 1973 Canadian English
10211 Prisoner Of Love Jean Genet 1986 French French
10219 Doctor Pasavento Enrique Vila-Matas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10292 April Fool's Day Josip Novakovich 2004 Croatian English
10303 The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali Salvador Dali 1942 Spanish Spanish
10303 What Is Called Thinking? Martin Heidegger 1954 German German
10303 Sense And Non Sense Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1948 French French
10303 The Course In General Linguistics Ferdinand de Saussure 1916 Swiss French
10355 Liars Sarah Manguso 2024 American English
10379 The Airways Jennifer Mills 2021 Unknown English
10379 Human Looking Andy Jackson 2021 Unknown English
10386 Spent Light Lara Pawson 2024 Unknown English
10434 Bluff Danez Smith 2024 American English
10448 Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt 2012 American English
10448 Mr. Palomar Italo Calvino 1983 Italian Italian
10504 Skin Kathe Koja 1993 American English
10520 Splinters Leslie Jamison 2024 Unknown English
10536 My Struggle: Book 6 Karl Ove Knausgård 2011 Norwegian Norwegian
10588 Varieties of Disturbance Lydia Davis 2007 American English
10593 Strange Sally Diamond Liz Nugent 2023 Irish English
10598 All Things Are Too Small Becca Rothfeld 2024 Unknown English
10663 36 Ways Of Writing A Vietnamese Poem Nam Le 2024 Multiple English
10691 Blue Ruin Hari Kunzru 2024 British English
10706 Hum Helen Phillips 2024 American English
10704 The Lodgers Holly Pester 2024 Unknown English
10728 What Is This Buzzing, Do You Hear It Too? Luigi Malerba 1989 Italian Italian
10730 The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov 1995 Russian English
10729 Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, And General Tales Of Ordinary Madness Charles Bukowski 1972 American English
10745 Spanking The Maid Robert Coover 1982 American English
10745 The Changing Light At Sandover James Merrill 1982 American English
10814 Montauk Max Frisch 1975 Swiss German
10820 Touching Feeling Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick 2003 American English
10825 The Lime Twig John Hawkes 1961 American English
10826 A Weave Of Women E. M. Broner 1978 American English
10873 The Vitals Tracy Sorensen 2023 Unknown English
10873 The Pole And Other Stories J. M. Coetzee 2023 South African English
10886 Brand New Ancients Kae Tempest 2013 British English
10895 Hotel Splendid Marie Redonnet 1986 French French
10905 Samedi The Deafness Jesse Ball 2007 American English
10905 The Last Novel David Markson 2007 American English
10908 Gaspard De La Nuit Aloysius Bertrand 1842 French French
10909 Роман Vladimir Sorokin 1998 Russian Russian
10932 Langrishe, Go Down Aidan Higgins 1966 Irish English
10934 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
10942 The Event Juan José Saer 1988 Argentinian Spanish
10963 That Time Of Year Marie NDiaye 2020 French French
10993 The History Of Sexuality Michel Foucault 1976 French French
11008 Birthday César Aira 2019 Argentinian Spanish
11019 Alphabetical Diaries Sheila Heti 2024 Unknown Unknown
11029 This Sex Which Is Not One Luce Irigary 1977 French French
11051 Gliff Ali Smith 2024 British English
11055 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11057 The Red Grass Boris Vian 1949 French French
11070 Life Adjustment Center Ryan McGinley 2010 American Unknown
11070 About a Mountain John D'Agata 2010 American English
11086 Perrudja Hans Henny Jahnn 1929 German German
11086 Murke's Collected Silences Heinrich Böll 1955 German German
11086 B/Moondocks Arno Schmidt 1960 German Unknown
11086 Der Weg Nach Oobliadooh Fritz Rudolf Fries 1966 German German
11086 Die Palette Hubert Fichte 1968 German German
11106 Limb A Jiné Básně Jiří Kolář Czech Czech
11131 An Arrow’s Flight Mark Merlis 1998 American English
11170 Philosophy In The Boudoir Marquis de Sade 1795 French French
11161 Scattered All Over The Earth Yoko Tawada 2018 Japanese Japanese
11177 In Every Moment We Still Are Alive Tom Malmquist 2015 Swedish Swedish
11203 The M Case Grégoire Bouillier 2021 French French
11241 Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins 1971 American English
11249 Nobody Passes Matthew Bernstein Sycamore 2006 Unknown English
11266 Seiobo There Below László Krasznahorkai 2008 Hungarian Hungarian
11271 Space In Motion Juan Goytisolo 1987 Spanish Unknown
11332 The Notes: Or On Non Premature Reconciliation Ludwig Hohl 1980 Swiss German
11350 Solange Willy Kyrklund 1951 Swedish Swedish
11360 Against Poets Witold Gombrowicz Polish Polish
11360 La Fin D'amor Jean-Claude Marol French Unknown
11360 La Patrie Empaillée Jacques Izoard Belgian French
11360 Où Sont Ils Maintenant. Anthologie Personnelle Laura Kasischke Unknown French
11360 Un Feu Au Cœur Du Vent Zéno Bianu French French
11387 Always Astonished Fernando Pessoa 1988 Portuguese Portuguese
11386 Marbot Wolfgang Hildesheimer 1981 German German
11419 A Naked Singularity Sergio De La Pava 2008 American English
11428 Vor Feuerschlünden. Erfahrung Mit Georg Trakls Gedicht Franz Fühmann 1982 German German
11428 Midwinter Day Bernadette Mayer 1982 American English
11434 Field Notes From A Catastrophe Elizabeth Kolbert 2006 American English
11489 Day In Day Out Terézia Mora 2004 German German
11505 The Coming Bad Days Sarah Bernstein 2021 Canadian English
11544 Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen 1966 Canadian English
11563 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11562 Hinze Kunze Roman Volker Braun 1985 German German
11630 The Instructions Adam Levin 2010 American English
11637 On The Calculation Of Volume Ii Solvej Balle 2020 Unknown Danish
11659 Videogames For Humans Merritt Kopas 2015 Unknown English
11660 Checkout 19 Claire-Louise Bennett 2021 Irish English
11660 A Short History Of Women Kate Walbert 2009 American English
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11660 An Arrow In The Wall Andrey Voznesensky 1987 Russian Russian
11660 Friday Black Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2018 American English
11660 Pure Hollywood Christine Schutt 2018 American English
11660 Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg 2018 American English
11805 X, Y Michael Blumlein 1993 American English
11809 Little Labors Rivka Galchen 2016 American English
11824 The Wax Child Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken 2023 Danish English
11838 In Bluebeard's Castle George Steiner 1971 British English
11869 Throat Sprockets Tim Lucas 1994 American English
11888 Flow Chart John Ashbery 1991 American English
11895 Ekkehard Joseph Victor von Scheffel 1855 German German
11899 A War Of Eyes And Other Stories Wanda Coleman 1988 American English
11899 The Woman Who Was Not All There Paula Sharp 1988 American English
11898 The Drama Of Doctrine Kevin Vanhoozer 2004 American English