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Cover of The Fall by Albert Camus

The Fall

Albert Camus

  • 147 pages · about 2 hours
  • First published 1956
  • 145 editions
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1 About this book

The Fall (French: La Chute) is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of dramatic monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger.

In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defense lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues. His crisis, and his ultimate "fall" from grace, was meant to invoke, in secular terms, the fall of man from the Garden of Eden.

The Fall explores themes of innocence, imprisonment, non-existence, and truth. In a eulogy to Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus's books.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Conscience
  • Existentialism
  • Literary fiction
  • Philosophy
  • Romance literature
  • Social ethics
  • Psychological fiction
  • Legal stories

2 What to expect

A short philosophical novel set in Amsterdam, written as a monologue by a former Parisian defense lawyer who confesses his life to a stranger in a bar. It examines guilt, hypocrisy and judgment, and the gap between how people see themselves and how they act, in a darkly ironic voice. It is brief but dense, more an extended argument than a plot-driven story.

Good for readers who want: existentialist fiction, moral philosophy, and a short book with big ideas.

3 About Albert Camus

1913–1960

Albert Camus ( kam-OO; French: ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, writer, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history, and the first laureate in literature born in Africa. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall and The Rebel. Camus was born in French Algeria to pied-noir parents.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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