The Fall

The Fall (French: La Chute) is a 1956 novel by French author and philosopher Albert Camus, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year. It is the last novel Camus published before his death in 1960. Camus’s work deals with absurdism, the philosophical stance that life has no higher meaning. The Fall is told in first-person perspective by the protagonist Jean-Baptiste Clamence as he tells his life story over a series of five days to an anonymous stranger. The Fall tackles themes of finding value in an absurd and meaningless world, the nature of innocence and guilt, and alienation in the wake of World War II. The Fall is a secular retelling of the Biblical Fall of Man that pays particular attention to the heavy cost of the atrocities of World War II.

This guide uses an eBook version of the 1956 Vintage Books edition, translated by Justin O’Brien. This guide refers to each of the book’s six different sections as chapters.

Content Warning: The Fall contains mentions of suicide, abuse, and alcoholism as well as discussions of slavery and genocide.

Plot Summary

The Fall begins in a bar named Mexico City in an impoverished part of Amsterdam. The protagonist and narrator, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, strikes up a conversation with an unnamed fellow Frenchman, often called monsieur (sir) and cher ami (dear friend). Clamence orders a drink for his friend, and then monologues to him about his views on humanity and the bartender. He thinks the bartender is an “ape” and that Amsterdam is full of “silhouettes.” Clamence considers both of them better than the bartender due to being French and bourgeois. Clamence compares Amsterdam’s layout of concentric rings to the rings of hell in Dante’s Inferno. He lives in what was once called the Jewish Quarter; the novel is set shortly after World War II, and the Holocaust displaced and murdered many of the Jewish Quarter’s original inhabitants. The men leave the bar to walk home. Clamence describes the city to his friend as they walk, noting that Amsterdam is a multicultural city. They part ways outside of the red light district, home to sex workers and “brothels” with characteristic red lights and curtains. Clamence suggests his friend patronize one of the women working there.

In Chapter 2, Clamence and his friend go on a walk the next day. Clamence comments on an old enslaver’s house, lamenting that enslavers are no longer allowed to flaunt their status. He views slavery as still surviving in the factories, and he thinks slavery is vital to humanity because humans crave power, regardless of which end of the power they’re on. Clamence describes himself as a “judge-penitent,” or a judge who is repenting for his sins. In France, he took on “noble cases” to help widows and orphans. He went out of his way to help others: Helping blind people cross roads, lifting heavy packages for others, and giving money to unhoused people. Clamence has a need to feel “above” others, preferring high, lofty places and hating the idea of being underground. He briefly touches on a laugh he heard while smoking a cigarette alone late one night, which has haunted him ever since.

In Chapter 3, Clamence and his friend go on another walk. His friend is interested in his story about the laugh, and Clamence explains that the laugh led to a state of depression that he treated with stimulant drugs. Clamence talks again about his feelings on slavery. He believes it is the most natural thing in the world and does not recognize anybody as his equal. Clamence promises to tell his friend about the laughter that haunts him but keeps going off on tangents. He recounts being stuck in traffic in Paris when a motorcycle broke down directly in front of him at a red light. Clamence made the situation worse by trying to help the motorcyclist, which quickly turned into him trying to assault the man. The motorcyclist fixed his vehicle, hit his would-be attacker, and rode off, leaving Clamence humiliated and dazed. He segues into his need to dominate and conquer, which leads him to talk about women. Clamence is a misogynist and views women as objects to “conquer” because it’s a mark of “success” in life. Clamence recounts walking home late one night and doing nothing as a young woman threw herself off a bridge and drowned. This event haunts him.

In Chapter 4, Clamence and his friend visit the island of Marken, just off the shore of Amsterdam. The two contemplate the sea as Clamence talks. Clamence believes life is about avoiding judgment while judging others as much as one can. The aforementioned traffic incident left him “bleeding” and threw his friendships and work into crisis. Clamence believes others, who lead empty lives, are threatened by his life, which is full and fulfilling. Clamence talks about innocence as the core of human nature, yet believes everybody is always guilty. Clamence continues to spiral as he becomes more successful in life. He contemplates suicide to spite his friends and colleagues. Clamence begins writing a manifesto that explains how the “oppressed” are hurting “decent people.” He begins spitting on blind people and harassing unhoused people.

In Chapter 5, Clamence and his friend ride a boat back to Amsterdam. Clamence recounts leaving “the society of men”—his friends and colleagues—because his success burdens him (98). He projects the mysterious laughter onto his friends and colleagues, whom he believes are laughing at him. The traffic incident and the drowning woman make Clamence realize his life is hollow and success means nothing. He hides in “debauchery,” having sex daily and drinking heavily. Debauchery makes him feel immortal and lets him “dominate” his memories. Clamence believes that not even Jesus was innocent and let himself be crucified to escape his memories. Clamence believes he has the “only solution” for living with trauma in an absurd world, which he promises to tell his friend later.

In Chapter 6, the friend visits Clamence in his apartment. Clamence is sick with a fever. He recounts how he was appointed pope in a German prisoner-of-war camp by other prisoners, all of whom were delirious with thirst and hunger. He took the appointment seriously and believes it is his place to preach the virtue of slavery and condemn others. Clamence reveals that he owns the stolen Just Judges painting, a famous panel stolen from an altarpiece in 1934. Clamence feels superior by knowing where the “real” judges are and knowing that the people who see the replacement Ghent altarpiece are being judged by “false” judges in a replica. Clamence has come to Amsterdam to practice his trade of being a “judge-penitent” and views his friend as a “client.” He wants to make other people spiral into debauchery and embrace slavery. In the end, he reflects on the drowning woman again: If given a second chance, he still would not save her.