Summary of The Fall
In a bar in Amsterdam, Jean-Baptiste Clamence reflects on his downfall from a respected lawyer in Paris to an exile in Amsterdam. In Paris, he prided himself on defending the poor and being a righteous man. However, his self-image is tainted for not helping a woman drowning in the Seine. The incident triggers a personal crisis, and he becomes convinced to be a hypocrite, acting out of self-love and pride rather than true goodness. He closes his law office and withdraws to Amsterdam, where he spends his time in a bar, convincing himself and others of their guilt as an element of self-knowledge necessary to achieve freedom.
Reasons to read The Fall
“The Fall” is a philosophical and introspective novel about self-crisis, guilt, and the human condition as a fall from grace. For Clamence, below-sea-level Amsterdam symbolises hell, with the canals representing its different circles. The final circle is a bar in the red-light district, where Clamence delivers his monologue. Albert Camus was one of the most renowned French writers of the 20th century and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. “The Fall” is one of his best-known works, alongside “The Stranger”, “The Plague”, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, and “The Rebel”.
Setting: Amsterdam (the Netherlands) & Paris (France)
Original title: La chute
Year of publication: 1956
Nr of pages: 147
