The Greatest Experimental Books Since 1900

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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
3324 Tarr Wyndham Lewis 1918 British English
3324 The Apes of God Wyndham Lewis 1930 British English
3324 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
3324 Insatiability Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz 1930 Polish Polish
3324 Conversations in Sicily Elio Vittorini 1941 Italian Italian
3324 Arcanum 17 André Breton 1944 French French
3324 L'Abbé C Georges Bataille 1950 French French
3324 Asphodel Hilda Doolittle 1921 American English
3375 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
3396 Cities of the Red Night William S. Burroughs 1981 American English
3404 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3409 The Manila Rope Veijo Meri 1957 Finnish Finnish
3423 The Back Room Carmen Martín Gaite 1978 Spanish Spanish
3428 Count Julian Juan Goytisolo 1970 Spanish Spanish
3432 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
3435 On Wings Of Song Thomas M. Disch 1979 American English
3438 The Needle's Eye Fanny Howe 1970 American English
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3482 The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. Robert Coover 1968 American English
3525 Looking Back Norman Douglas 1933 British English
3534 The Obscene Madame D Hilda Hilst 1982 Brazilian Portuguese
3539 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3552 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3558 Faces In The Water Janet Frame 1961 New Zealander English
3574 Horcynus Orca Stefano D'Arrigo 1975 Italian Italian
3603 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3622 The Atrocity Exhibition J. G. Ballard 1970 British English
3637 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3637 Blasting And Bombardiering Wyndham Lewis 1937 British English
3801 A Imortalidade Milan Kundera 1990 Czech Czech
3806 Critique Of Cynical Reason Peter Sloterdijk 1983 German German
3833 Mannen utan väg Erik Lindegren 1942 Swedish Swedish
3839 Gog Andrew Sinclair 1967 British English
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3849 The Unlimited Dream Company J. G. Ballard 1979 British English
3851 JR William Gaddis 1975 American English
3877 Subconscious Opens Like A Fan Yona Wallach 1985 Israeli Hebrew
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3895 The Planetarium Nathalie Sarraute 1959 French French
3916 The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore Marianne Moore 1967 American English
3919 Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg 1984 American English
3934 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3939 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
3945 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3953 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3953 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
3953 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
3953 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
3953 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
3953 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
3953 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3953 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
3953 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3953 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
3953 Pagini Bizare Urmuz 1930 Romanian Romanian
3953 Adventures In Immediate Irreality M. Blecher 1936 Romanian Romanian
3953 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
4115 For a New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet 1963 French French
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4135 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4136 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4145 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4152 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4171 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4227 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4267 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4271 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
4279 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4281 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4281 Air Of Solitude Gustave Roud 1945 Swiss French
4286 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4299 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4391 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
4393 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4399 The Obscene Bird Of Night José Donoso 1970 Chilean Spanish
4413 Norma Vladimir Sorokin 1970 Russian Russian
4415 Diary Witold Gombrowicz 1986 Polish Polish
4434 Verzameld Werk: Poëzie Paul van Ostaijen 1955 Belgian Dutch
4435 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English
4452 Zurita Raul Zurita 1979 Chilean Spanish
4453 Gogol's Wife Tommaso Landolfi 1953 Italian Italian
4527 The Medium Is The Massage Marshall McLuhan 1967 Canadian English
4544 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4566 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4581 Laut Und Luise Ernst Jandl 1966 Austrian German
4597 Istorii Mircea Ciobanu 1977 Romanian Unknown
4606 Verzamelde Gedichten Lucebert 1957 Dutch Dutch
4607 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4609 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4621 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4641 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4645 The Face Of Another Kobo Abé 1964 Japanese Japanese
4661 The Complete Stories Clarice Lispector 2016 Brazilian Portuguese
4665 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4663 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4762 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4783 Ice Anna Kavan 1967 British English
4792 Corporale Paolo Volponi 1974 Italian Italian
4803 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4808 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4856 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4878 To The End Of The World Blaise Cendrars 1957 French French
4878 L'instant Fatal Raymond Queneau 1948 French French
4878 The Wound Malick Fall 1967 Senegalese French
4941 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4950 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4956 The Venetian Glass Nephew Elinor Wylie 1925 American English
4956 Mr. Godly Beside Himself Gerald Bullett 1924 British English
4956 The Supermale Alfred Jarry 1902 French French
4987 Living In The Maniototo Janet Frame 1979 New Zealand English
4992 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5013 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
5044 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5044 Devil's Tor David Lindsay 1932 British English
5044 Living Alone Stella Benson 1919 British English
5126 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
5126 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5154 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5171 Omniumgathum Jonathan Bacon, Steve Troyanovich 1976 Unknown Unknown