The Greatest Western 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
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
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
3539 C Tom McCarthy 2010 British English
3552 Log Of The S.S. The Mrs Unguentine Stanley Crawford 1972 American English
3574 Horcynus Orca Stefano D'Arrigo 1975 Italian Italian
3603 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3606 A Throw Of The Dice Will Never Abolish Chance Stéphane Mallarmé 1897 French French
3622 The Atrocity Exhibition J. G. Ballard 1970 British English
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
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
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
3933 One Hundred Poems Kenneth Slessor 1944 Australian English
3938 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
3944 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3952 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3952 Η κρύπτη Ε.Χ. Γονατάς 1963 Greek Greek
3952 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
3952 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
3952 Ενδοχωρα Andreas Embiricos 1947 Greek Greek
3952 Υψικαμινος Andreas Embiricos 1935 Greek Greek
3952 Νηπενθή Kostas Karyotakis 1921 Greek Greek
3952 Κατά Σαδδουκαίων Michalis Katsaros 1953 Greek Greek
3952 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3952 Mythistorema George Seferis 1935 Greek Greek
3952 Ασκητική Nikos Kazantzakis 1927 Greek Greek
4114 For a New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet 1963 French French
4115 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4135 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
4144 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4151 American Genius Lynne Tillman 2006 American English
4170 Trout Fishing In America Richard Brautigan 1967 American English
4266 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4270 Zangezi Velimir Khlebnikov 1922 Russian Russian
4278 Christmas At The Ivanovs' Alexander Vvedensky 1938 Russian Russian
4280 The Spirits Of The Earth Catherine Colomb 1962 Swiss French
4280 Air Of Solitude Gustave Roud 1945 Swiss French
4285 In The Skin Of A Lion Michael Ondaatje 1987 Canadian English
4298 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4390 Crabwalk Günter Grass 2002 German German
4392 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4412 Norma Vladimir Sorokin 1970 Russian Russian
4433 Verzameld Werk: Poëzie Paul van Ostaijen 1955 Belgian Dutch
4434 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English
4452 Gogol's Wife Tommaso Landolfi 1953 Italian Italian
4526 The Medium Is The Massage Marshall McLuhan 1967 Canadian English
4543 Η Σαρκοφαγος Giorgos Ioannou 1971 Greek Greek
4565 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4580 Laut Und Luise Ernst Jandl 1966 Austrian German
4605 Verzamelde Gedichten Lucebert 1957 Dutch Dutch
4606 The Dice Man Luke Rhinehart 1971 American English
4608 Here Richard McGuire 2014 American English
4620 Calligrammes Guillaume Apollinaire 1918 French French
4640 The Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Sigmund Freud 1901 German German
4664 Building Stories Chris Ware 2012 American English
4662 The Fan Man William Kotzwinkle 1974 American English
4761 Vertigo W. G. Sebald 1990 German German
4782 Ice Anna Kavan 1967 British English
4791 Corporale Paolo Volponi 1974 Italian Italian
4802 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4807 Oktana Andreas Embiricos 1975 Greek Greek
4855 Zettels Traum Arno Schmidt 1970 German German
4877 To The End Of The World Blaise Cendrars 1957 French French
4877 L'instant Fatal Raymond Queneau 1948 French French
4940 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4955 The Venetian Glass Nephew Elinor Wylie 1925 American English
4955 Mr. Godly Beside Himself Gerald Bullett 1924 British English
4955 The Supermale Alfred Jarry 1902 French French
4991 A Thousand Plateaus Gilles Deleuze 1980 French French
5012 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
5043 Fantazius Mallare Ben Hecht 1922 American English
5043 Devil's Tor David Lindsay 1932 British English
5043 Living Alone Stella Benson 1919 British English
5125 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
5125 Ο Εχθρός του Ποιητή Giorgos Heimonas 1979 Greek Greek
5254 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5284 από το στόμα της παλιάς Remington Giannis Panou 1981 Greek Greek
5291 Notes On The Cinematographer Robert Bresson 1975 French French
5337 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5361 Schilten Hermann Burger 1976 Swiss German
5385 The Other Place And Other Stories J. B. Priestley 1953 British English
5392 Personae Ezra Pound 1909 American English
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5477 Larva Julián Ríos 1983 Spanish Spanish
5487 Body Rags Galway Kinnell 1968 American English
5524 A Humument Tom Phillips 1970 British English
5530 Velbloud Uchem Jehl František Langer 1923 Czech Czech
5530 Summer Of Caprice Vladislav Vančura 1926 Czech Czech
5530 The Sufferings Of Prince Sternenhoch Ladislav Klíma 1928 Czech Czech
5530 Kohout Plaší Smrt František Halas 1930 Czech Czech
5530 Prométheova Játra Jiří Kolář 1950 Czech Czech
5530 Zimohrádek Ivan Wernisch 1965 Czech Czech
5582 Democracy Joan Didion 1984 American English
5623 Biography Of X Catherine Lacey 2023 American English
5653 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5653 The Parable of the Blind Gert Hofmann 1985 German German
5683 Various Persons Named Kevin O'brien Alden Nowlan 1973 Canadian English