Ben Reads Avant-Garde

Ben is our expert on avant-garde literature.

We always know he'll be reading something that's cutting-edge.

Here are five experimental works that will give you a new perspective.

Void Corporation by Blake Butler

Ben says:

The skeleton key to the literary universe of one of America's greatest living writers. A novel about art terrorism, the inconsistency of memory, and the seemingly infinite darkness that waits for us when we close our eyes.

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño

Ben says:

Part history lesson, part confession. A single unbroken paragraph that tells the story of Pinochet's rise to power as well as a profound treatise on the failure of art.

Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec

Ben says:

A book that tries to show the whole of existence through the lives that inhabit a single building. Simultaneous stories that give light to one another as they are revealed. A formalist masterpiece.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

Ben says:

A fictionalized memoir about a non-existent star of the east village art scene. An America broken in two after the end of World War II. A woman attempts to understand abuse at the hands of the person she loved. All at once.

Blackouts by Justin Torres

Ben says:

A deep meditation on queerness, memory, and the nature of history. Moments of transcendent beauty and stark reality often share the same page.