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
7611 Selected Poetry And Prose Stéphane Mallarmé 1945 French French
7631 Telephone Percival Everett 2020 American English
7663 Against Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 American English
7655 Paterson William Carlos Williams 1946 American English
7682 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7690 Dark Gods T. E. D. Klein 1985 American English
7716 Selected Writings Antonin Artaud 1947 French French
7725 A Worldly Country John Ashbery 2007 American English
7736 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Amy Hempel 2006 American English
7743 My Life and My Life in the Nineties Lyn Hejinian 1980 American English
7748 Geography Iii Elizabeth Bishop 1976 American English
7755 One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine Paul Verlaine 1948 French French
7753 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7771 Poems Of André Breton André Breton 1948 French French
7793 The Gay Science Friedrich Nietzsche 1882 German German
7819 Selected Writings Henri Michaux 1949 French French
7819 Five Novels Ronald Firbank 1949 British English
7827 Mezi Oknem, Stolem A Postelí Petr Borkovec 1996 Czech Czech
7818 Sister Gin June Arnold 1975 American English
7856 Autobiography Of Red Anne Carson 1998 Canadian English
7860 The Plains Gerald Murnane 1982 Australian English
7896 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7899 Spreadeagle Kevin Killian 2012 American English
7914 The Braindead Megaphone George Saunders 2007 American English
7943 Lover Bertha Harris 1976 American English
7958 La Casa De La Fuerza Angélica Liddell 2009 Spanish Spanish
7966 Selected Writings Guillaume Apollinaire 1952 French French
7966 The Anathemata David Jones 1952 British English
8000 Fragmentos De Un Libro Futuro José Ángel Valente 2000 Spanish Spanish
8008 Victims Of Duty Eugène Ionesco 1953 French French
8024 Gender Outlaw Kate Bornstein 1994 American English
8031 A Barbarian In Asia Henri Michaux 1933 French French
8045 Masques J. N. Williamson 1984 American English
8045 Autumn Roses G. Sutton Breiding 1984 American Unknown
8053 The Delights Of Terror Terry Heller 1987 American English
8068 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8071 Taipei Tao Lin 2013 American English
8075 Amédée Eugène Ionesco 1954 French French
8075 The Seven Churches Miloš Urban 1999 Czech Czech
8155 Crush Richard Siken 2005 American English
8175 Saints And Strangers Angela Carter 1985 British English
8177 Three Novels Samuel Beckett 1955 Irish French
8192 The Order Of Time Carlo Rovelli 2017 Italian Italian
8202 4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane 2000 British English
8202 The Day I Wasn't There Hélène Cixous 2000 French French
8214 Stories In An Almost Classical Mode Harold Brodkey 1989 American English
8218 Rok Perel Zuzana Brabcová 2000 Czech Czech
8233 U and I Nicholson Baker 1991 American English
8242 19 Knives Mark Anthony Jarman 1997 Canadian English
8248 Always Unreliable Clive James 2001 British English
8279 The Wind Claude Simon 1957 French French
8327 This All Happened Michael Winter 2000 Canadian English
8335 The Grass Claude Simon 1958 French French
8344 The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon Tom Spanbauer 1991 American English
8359 On Strike Against God Joanna Russ 1980 American English
8388 Poems Of Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès 1959 French French
8388 In The Labyrinth Alain Robbe-Grillet 1959 French French
8401 About The Author John Colapinto 2001 American English
8472 The Maximus Poems Charles Olson 1960 American English
8472 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8495 Margaret The First Danielle Dutton 2016 American English
8511 From A Logical Point Of View Willard Van Orman Quine 1953 American English
8533 L'amour, Roman Camille Laurens 2003 French French
8552 Igur Neblí Miquel de Palol 1994 Spanish Unknown
8605 Fact, Fiction, And Forecast Nelson Goodman 1955 American English
8622 Play The Monster Blind Lynn Coady 2000 Canadian English
8630 Vanishing Point David Markson 2004 American English
8664 The Bridge Hart Crane 1930 American English
8680 The Chronology Of Water Lidia Yuknavitch 2011 American English
8674 Marabou Stork Nightmares Irvine Welsh 1995 British English
8684 Miss Peabody’s Inheritance Elizabeth Jolley 1983 Australian English
8685 The Poetic Fantastic Patrick D. Murphy 1989 American English
8705 Strategies Of Fantasy Brian Attebery 1992 American English
8737 Second Skin John Hawkes 1964 American English
8825 The Baphomet Pierre Klossowski 1965 French French
8851 The Emperor's New Mind Roger Penrose 1989 British English
8884 Black and Blur Fred Moten 2017 American English
8888 Cendrillon Éric Reinhardt 2007 French French
8971 The Society Of The Spectacle Guy Debord 1967 French French
8976 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
9008 T Zero Italo Calvino 1967 Italian Italian
9021 Dark Back Of Time Javier Marias 1998 Spanish Spanish
9021 Memories Of My Father Watching Tv Curtis White 1998 American English
9060 Pond Claire-Louise Bennett 2015 Irish English
9127 Génie Divin Guillaume Dustan 2001 French French
9138 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9159 Correspondance Avec Le Mur Hélène Cixous 2009 French French
9223 The Passenger Cormac McCarthy 2022 American English
9224 Burning Your Boats Angela Carter 1995 British English
9234 Panthers And The Museum Of Fire Jen Craig 2015 Australian English
9241 Silences Tillie Olsen 1978 American English
9244 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9255 Portrait Of A Man Unknown Nathalie Sarraute 1948 French French
9274 Invisible Reality Juan Ramón Jiménez 1983 Spanish Unknown
9292 Project For A Revolution In New York Alain Robbe-Grillet 1970 French French
9292 The Double Dream Of Spring John Ashbery 1970 American English
9308 Down To The Dirt Joel Hynes 2004 Canadian English
9346 Ellipse Of Uncertainty Lance Olsen 1993 American English
9373 Their Brilliant Careers Ryan O’Neill 2016 Australian English
9604 Meteor In The Madhouse Leon Forrest 2001 American English
9645 Forgetting Elena Edmund White 1973 American English
9655 Rachel, Monique… Sophie Calle 2012 French French
9657 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9674 Easy Reading Cristina Morales 2018 Spanish Spanish
9741 Tatlin! Guy Davenport 1974 American English
9762 When The Earth Was Flat Raymond Fraser 2007 Canadian English
9769 Animal Money Michael Cisco 2015 American English
9779 Autumn In Peking Boris Vian 1947 French French
9826 Tristano Dies Antonio Tabucchi 2004 Italian Italian
9848 Entre Les Deux Il N’y A Rien Mathieu Riboulet 2006 French French
9857 Biographia Literaria Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1817 British English
9881 Basin And Range John McPhee 1981 American English
9958 On The Calculation Of Volume Solvej Balle 2025 Danish Danish
10037 Poems Of John Ashbery John Ashbery 1977 American English
10060 Campo De Retamas Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio 2013 Spanish Spanish
10072 Prufrock and Other Observations T. S. Eliot 1917 British English
10094 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10136 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10167 The Pale King David Foster Wallace 2011 American English
10179 Insane Rainald Goetz 1983 German German