Experimental

Experimental literature refers to written work—usually fiction or poetry—that emphasizes innovation, most especially in technique.

House of Leaves
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
The Craziest Book Ever Written
Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
Lincoln in the Bardo
Invisible Cities
S.
Pale Fire
Ulysses
Hopscotch
Cloud Atlas
The Waves
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wittgenstein’s Mistress
Gravity’s Rainbow
House of Leaves by Mark Z. DanielewskiCrossings by Alex LandraginThe Timeline Pervert by Alvin TungS. by J.J. AbramsTree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer
Formally Experimental Print Books
12 books — 3 voters
Exercises in Style by Raymond QueneauThe Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise by Georges PerecCosmicomics by Italo CalvinoIf on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo CalvinoInvisible Cities by Italo Calvino
...nothing but Oulipo
39 books — 8 voters

Bluets by Maggie NelsonCitizen by Claudia RankineDon’t Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia RankineAutobiography of Red by Anne CarsonThe Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
Lyric Essay and Hybrid Genre
59 books — 25 voters
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessFight Club by Chuck Palahniuk1984 by George OrwellThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerSlaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Best Experimental Books Ever
1,107 books — 1,719 voters

It Then by Danielle CollobertRoutines, Expanded Edition by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Horror-Poetry
2 books — 1 voter
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara ComynsEvent Factory by Renee GladmanThe Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington by Leonora CarringtonCreature by Amina CainSuite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Léger
Dorothy, A Publishing Project
33 books — 28 voters

Ronja Maue
Es gab keine Menschen, die ich mochte, und Menschen, die ich nicht mochte, als ich nach England zog. Es gab ausschließlich Menschen, die mich interessierten. Deswegen kann ich mich auch an kein einziges Date in meinem Leben erinnern, das ich als unerträglich empfunden hätte. Ich konnte mir alles und jeden als Teil meines Lebensexperiments verkaufen – und wenn jemand panne war, wollte ich nicht weglaufen, sondern versuchen herauszufinden, warum derjenige so geworden war – also panne haha.
Ronja Maue, Koks im Zuckerstreuer und Kakerlaken in der Wand

Clarice Lispector
This text that I give you is not to be seen close up: it gains its secret previously invisible roundness when seen from a high-flying plane. Then you can divine the play of islands and see the channels and seas. Understand me: I write you an onomatopoeia, convulsion of language. I’m not transmitting to you a story but just words that live from sound. I speak to you thus: “Lustful trunk.
Clarice Lispector, Água Viva

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