The fall

The third and final novel published during Albert Camus's lifetime, a fast-paced monologue about the idea of justice and the excesses of modern life.

Originally published in 1956, The Fall is Albert Camus’s third novel and the last to be published during his lifetime. It consists entirely of a confession made by the narrator and protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, to a silent listener over several days in the city of Amsterdam, and his extensive monologue focuses on the events that led him to embrace existential meaninglessness.

One night, returning to his home in Paris, Clamence crossed a bridge where he saw a young woman leaning over the parapet. He immediately heard her throw herself into the water, but did nothing to help her. From then on, he has lived consumed by guilt and has continued to fall on his own moral scale. In this torn man, Albert Camus undoubtedly reflects a post-war society struggling with its ghosts, while searching for a vital center and true justice.

The author has said:
«The man who speaks in The Fall gives himself over to a calculated confession [...] He has a modern heart, that is to say, he cannot bear to be judged. Hence, he hurries to place himself on the stand, even if it is to better judge others. The mirror in which he looks at himself ends up presenting him to others. Where does the confession begin, where does the accusation?»