Experimental literature is a genre that is generally difficult to define. These works experiment with the traditional conventions of literature such as the boundaries of a specific genre or style. You may even see the text laid out in differing configurations on the page as opposed to the traditional look of paragraphs. Experimental literature can be found in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works. As these works are not typically straightforward, they are often considered difficult to read.
Some "common" things you may find in experimental work include:
- Challenging of tropes, genre rules, and literary traditions
- You might not find a beginning, middle, and end or the use of the classic plot structure
- You might not find any main characters (or characters at all)
- Knowingly mixing fact and fiction
- Loss of boundaries
- Writers may pop in and out of their own work; the traditional boundary separating the reader from the author, narrator, editor, etc. are often broken down
- Playing with language
- Verb tenses may change, point of view isn't always defined, words can have new meanings, and spelling & punctuation may vary
- Change in layout
- It may sprawl all over a page or just take up a small section; it does not have to follow from left to right or even move horizontally on the page
- Addition of other media
- Incorporation of art, photography, handwriting, etc.
Want to try reading some experimental literature? Check out one of these titles today!
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
How To Be Both by Ali Smith
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
NW by Zadie Smith
City On Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
Picture from https://ent.sharelibraries.info/client/en_US/evans
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