Incidently , if you want to read an experiment of modernism that worked big time , and stood the test of time, get a hold of Fernando Pessoas "Book of Disquiet".
In fact when i read it , it very much reminded me of a word version of Matisse/Picasso work at about the same time (1905-1912ish).
It is as close one will get to post-impressionism painting done by words.A stunning success.Amazingly it was not published until the 1980s , and the English version only came out in the mid-1990s.A definite missing piece in the evolution started by Gogol.
The real relevance of the work is that it was an initial description to the commoditisation of the individual in modern working society , therefore the alienation and misfitness speaks more to the experience of todays reader trying to make his way in the Fake Empire of increasingly empty void of corporate managed freedom.
Though a small book in the form of a dairy , it is so intense , you will feel quite emotionally exhausted ( and exhilarated ) reading it.
It achieves what Joyce almost did.
Talking of Fake Empires here is a Book of Disquiet inspired video:
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