Updated October 13, 2018 2.4k votes 249 voters 6.7k views47 items
List RulesWorks of innovative fiction and poetry
This is a list about the greatest experimental literature; it answers the question, “What are the top experimental novels of all time?” Experimental literature is usually fiction or poetry that emphasizes innovations, especially in technique. The easiest way to understand it is by comparing traditional artwork: an artist is typically trained to follow a certain set of rules, such as color blending, staying within certain lines and using proper balance within details. Traditional literary works of art usually follow similar guidelines that pertain to their use of structure. Within the world of art, impressionistic pieces and abstract artwork defied the most common rules of painting, causing them to stand out in unusual ways. It was the same within the literary arena; authors such as Earnest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein defied these basic styles on purpose to see what people’s responses would be. Such works of art are referred to as “experimental” since the outcome is undetermined at the time. Perhaps the most famous experimental story is “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. This experimental book defied common rules of language and grammar by the author’s liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality. The novel was a tremendous success, selling more than 65 million copies worldwide.
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6419Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, William Glennon2
5617A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess3
5518Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut4
4817Brave New World
Aldous Huxley5
5324The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner6
5324Breakfast of Champions
Kurt Vonnegut7
4415A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce8
4719Ulysses
James Joyce9
5729Animal Farm
George Orwell10
5732The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger11
4221Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad12
3818Catch-22
Joseph Heller13
4022One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez14
422515
3015The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Laurence Sterne16
7266Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell17
3220Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs18
2714Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino19
3324Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson20
3426Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Herman Melville21
2617The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams22
2517Finnegans Wake
James Joyce23
2519The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov24
2419House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski25
2724The Book Thief
Markus Zusak