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
7612 Selected Poetry And Prose Stéphane Mallarmé 1945 French French
7632 Telephone Percival Everett 2020 American 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
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
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
8046 Autumn Roses G. Sutton Breiding 1984 American Unknown
8054 The Delights Of Terror Terry Heller 1987 American English
8069 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8072 Taipei Tao Lin 2013 American English
8076 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8076 The Seven Churches Miloš Urban 1999 Czech Czech
8156 Crush Richard Siken 2005 American English
8176 Saints And Strangers Angela Carter 1985 British English
8178 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8193 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8203 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8203 The Day I Wasn't There Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
8215 Stories In An Almost Classical Mode Harold Brodkey 1989 American English
8220 Rok Perel Zuzana Brabcová 2000 Czech Czech
8235 U and I Nicholson Baker 1991 American English
8244 19 Knives Mark Anthony Jarman 1997 Canadian English
8250 Always Unreliable Clive James 2001 British English
8281 The Wind Claude Simon 1957 French French
8329 This All Happened Michael Winter 2000 Canadian English
8337 The Grass Claude Simon 1958 French French
8346 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8361 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8390 Poems Of Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès 1959 French French
8390 In The Labyrinth Alain Robbe-Grillet 1959 French French
8403 About The Author John Colapinto 2001 American English
8474 The Maximus Poems Charles Olson 1960 American English
8474 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8497 Margaret The First Danielle Dutton 2016 American English
8513 From A Logical Point Of View Willard Van Orman Quine 1953 American English
8536 L'amour, Roman Camille Laurens 2003 French French
8555 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8608 Fact, Fiction, And Forecast Nelson Goodman 1955 American English
8625 Play The Monster Blind Lynn Coady 2000 Canadian English
8633 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8667 The Bridge Hart Crane 1930 American English
8683 The Chronology Of Water Lidia Yuknavitch 2011 American English
8677 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8687 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8688 The Poetic Fantastic Patrick D. Murphy 1989 American English
8708 Strategies Of Fantasy Brian Attebery 1992 American English
8741 Second Skin John Hawkes 1964 American English
8829 The Baphomet Pierre Klossowski 1965 French French
8854 The Emperor's New Mind Roger Penrose 1989 British English
8887 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
8891 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8974 The Society Of The Spectacle Guy Debord 1967 French French
8979 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
9011 T Zero Italo Calvino 1967 Italian Italian
9024 Dark Back Of Time Javier Marias 1998 Spanish Spanish
9024 Memories Of My Father Watching Tv Curtis White 1998 American English
9063 Pond Claire-Louise Bennett 2015 Irish English
9130 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9141 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9162 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9226 The Passenger Cormac McCarthy 2022 American English
9227 Burning Your Boats Angela Carter 1995 British English
9237 Panthers And The Museum Of Fire Jen Craig 2015 Australian English
9244 Silences Tillie Olsen 1978 American English
9247 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9258 Portrait Of A Man Unknown Nathalie Sarraute 1948 French French
9278 Invisible Reality Juan Ramón Jiménez 1983 Spanish Unknown
9295 Project For A Revolution In New York Alain Robbe-Grillet 1970 French French
9295 The Double Dream Of Spring John Ashbery 1970 American English
9311 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9349 Ellipse Of Uncertainty Lance Olsen 1993 American English
9376 Their Brilliant Careers Ryan O’Neill 2016 Australian English
9607 Meteor In The Madhouse Leon Forrest 2001 American English
9641 The Lime Twig John Hawkes 1961 American English
9649 Forgetting Elena Edmund White 1973 American English
9659 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9661 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9678 Easy Reading Cristina Morales 2018 Spanish Spanish
9745 Tatlin! Guy Davenport 1974 American English
9766 When The Earth Was Flat Raymond Fraser 2007 Canadian English
9773 Animal Money Michael Cisco 2015 American English
9783 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9830 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9852 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9861 Biographia Literaria Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1817 British English
9885 Basin And Range John McPhee 1981 American English
9963 On The Calculation Of Volume Solvej Balle 2025 Danish Danish
10043 Poems Of John Ashbery John Ashbery 1977 American English
10065 Campo De Retamas Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio 2013 Spanish Spanish
10077 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10099 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10140 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10171 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English