I suppose it's only fair ...

... to link to Scott Esposito's objection to John Freeman's review of Mark Z. Danielewski´s Only Revolutions: John Freeman´s Experiments.

I discussed this with John via email and I also think it fair to point out that John reviewed just about every one of the books listed. I do not myself see anything particularly experimental about The Corrections, though it certainly was touted at the the time as the NEXTBIGTHING.

I must also confess that the notion of artistic experiment has always bothered me a bit. In the world of science, where experiments are crucial, most experiments fail. In the world of art, experiments are praised as ends in themselves. I also think many works called experimental are not such at all. I don't think Ulysses is experimental. I don't think any trial and error was involved in it at all. Joyce knew from the start what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. And do it he did.