Catcher in the Rye and A Confederacy of Dunces are probably the most famous examples. No-one has attempted to adapt them to film yet, even after all this time.
I'll add The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
Surely with all the new non-mainstream film forms now embraced by different directors/audiences (though admittedly relatively small ones), unwieldy books with strange themes and odd chronological sequences can now be translated to the screen and find an audience (and some profitability)?
David Lynch has made some weird stuff. And even Naked Lunch got to be made into a film after all...
Novels/books that defy any film adaptation
Re: Novels/books that defy any film adaptation
lots of people have tried to adapt confederacy, i think the most famous attempts were by david gordon green in the 2000s and stephen fry/soderberg in the 90s. but (if i understand correctly) there are all sorts of really nasty rights issues involved.
pretty sure salinger is more or less responsible for nobody touching catcher (or any of his other books) as well.
pretty sure salinger is more or less responsible for nobody touching catcher (or any of his other books) as well.