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Albert Camus
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La Chute (French Edition) Kindle Edition

French Edition by Albert Camus (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,143 ratings
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« Sur le pont, je passai derrière une forme penchée sur le parapet, et qui semblait regarder le fleuve. De plus près, je distinguai une mince jeune femme, habillée de noir. Entre les cheveux sombres et le col du manteau, on voyait seulement une nuque, fraîche et mouillée, à laquelle je fus sensible. Mais je poursuivis ma route, après une hésitation. [...] J'avais déjà parcouru une cinquantaine de mètres à peu près, lorsque j'entendis le bruit, qui, malgré la distance, me parut formidable dans le silence nocturne, d'un corps qui s'abat sur l'eau. Je m'arrêtai net, mais sans me retourner. Presque aussitôt, j'entendis un cri, plusieurs fois répété, qui descendait lui aussi le fleuve, puis s'éteignit brusquement. »
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  4. Publication date
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Elegantly styled, Camus' profoundly disturbing novel of a Parisian lawyer's confessions is a searing study of modern amorality. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Born in Algeria in 1913, ALBERT CAMUS published The Stranger—now one of the most widely read novels of this century—in 1942. Celebrated in intellectual circles, Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. On January 4, 1960, he was killed in a car accident. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C1X7MY3G
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 8, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ French
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 348 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 103 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,143 ratings

About the author

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Albert Camus

Albert Camus

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Albert Camus (French: [albɛʁ kamy]; 7 November 1913 - 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.

Camus did not consider himself to be an existentialist despite usually being classified as one, even in his lifetime. In a 1945 interview, Camus rejected any ideological associations: ""No, I am not an existentialist. Sartre and I are always surprised to see our names linked..."".

Camus was born in Algeria to a Pied-Noir family, and studied at the University of Algiers from which he graduated in 1936. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons to ""denounce two ideologies found in both the USSR and the USA"".

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Photograph by United Press International [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
2,143 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Edward Day
5.0 out of 5 stars extraordinary intelligence
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2022
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This author has received so many accolades over the years that there's really no need for me to add to them.
Camus will really make you think and get new insights into your own motivations. One especially for me is the attraction of the harshness of the Republican Party. It was more than a little embarrassing. At the end he makes the observation that if you admit your failings completely up front with people it tends to disarm them when they try to get condemning. This is certainly worth reading and savoring his perceptive intelligence.
6 people found this helpful
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Glenn Russell
5.0 out of 5 stars I would think Greco-Roman philosophers like Cicero, Seneca
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2014
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"A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the newspapers." So pronounces Jean-Baptiste Clamence, narrator of Albert Camus's short novel during the first evening of a monologue he delivers to a stranger over drinks at a shabby Amsterdam watering hole. Then, during the course of several evenings, the narrator continues his musings uninterrupted; yes, that's right, completely uninterrupted, since his interlocutor says not a word. At one point Clamence states, "Alcohol and women provided me, I admit, the only solace of which I was worthy." Clamence, judge-penitent as he calls himself, speaks thusly because he has passed judgment upon himself and his life. His verdict: guilty on all counts.

And my personal reaction to Clamence's monologue? Let me start with a quote from Carl Jung: "I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life. They seek position, marriage, reputation, outward success of money, and remain unhappy and neurotic even when they have attained what they were seeking. Such people are usually confined within too narrow a spiritual horizon." Camus gives us a searing portrayal of a modern man who is the embodiment of spiritual poverty - morose, alienated, isolated, empty.

I would think Greco-Roman philosophers like Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, or Marcus Aurelius would challenge Clamence in his clams to know life: "I never had to learn how to live. In that regard, I already knew everything at birth.". Likewise, the wisdom masters from the enlightenment tradition -- such as Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma and Milarepa -- would have little patience listening to a monologue delivered by a smellfungus and know-it-all black bile stinker.

I completed my reading of the novel, a slow, careful reading as is deserving of Camus. The Fall is indeed a masterpiece of concision and insight into the plight of modern human experience.

Here is a quote from the Wikipedia review: "Clamence, through his confession, sits in permanent judgment of himself and others, spending his time persuading those around him of their own unconditional guilt."

Would you be persuaded?
16 people found this helpful
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Lucas W. Humble
4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful but ultimately indicative of an empty philosophy
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2012
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It is hard to classify this book -- it is referred to as a novel (or even a novella), but in many ways, it better serves as a philosophical discourse.

The book starts in a seedy bar, where a former lawyer is speaking with a visitor to the bar (the visitor is referred to as "you," as if the reader is in fact the visitor). The narrator explains, over the course of a few days, how his perspective on life fundamentally shifted. While the narrator once was eager to give to charities and help others, he has since chosen to cease this lifestyle in favor of debauchery and self-fulfillment. He explains that the only real reason that he was doing noble things such as helping others was the attention and praise that he received from it.

Camus is a very good writer, and the book moves at a quick, readable pace. Stylistically, it is very reminiscent of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. This was perhaps intentional -- Camus was a noted admirer of Dostoevsky, and Notes from Underground is often attributed as the start of the Existentialism movement of which Camus was a key part.

Camus also makes some very apt criticisms of human tendencies. Of particular note is the narrator's discussion of the change in attitudes and treatment of the recent dead. The observation that the dead are placed on a pedestal is perhaps not entirely unique, but Camus's discussion of why they are placed on a pedestal is reticent.

Ultimately, however, Camus's philosophy (or at least the philosophy of the narrator) is empty. The narrator's shift from doing good to doing nothing is never expressly critiqued, and indeed seems supported by the Existentialist approach of self-satisfaction. From a philosophical perspective (or even from a mere human perspective), this seems hollow and unsatisfying. After all, while the narrator was acting to help others (even for his own selfish tendencies), at least some ascertainable good was created.

So, while The Fall acts as a gateway to discussion and intellectual inquiry, it also provides a discouraging non-answer to the questions it raises regarding the worth of humanity.
11 people found this helpful
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Jeff
5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting read…
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2023
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This book is a very interesting read. It’s short, but filled with lots of intriguing narratives, making it seem like a much longer book.
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Charles J. Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, but should be read closely
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2022
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Everyone is guilty, despite the fact that there is no law and no crime. In this, The Fall resembles Kafka's The Trial. It is brilliantly written, with a wonderful style. However, it is so dense with ideas and sly metaphors, it needs to be read closely, engaging intimately with his prose. My copy is thoroughly marked up.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars As described
Reviewed in Sweden on April 8, 2024
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As described
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UK rathva
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in India on February 22, 2024
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Good
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Karol Wild
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best philosophy Books read in 2023
Reviewed in Germany on May 9, 2023
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It is a great book if you want to rethink or change your perspective on your social reality and life. For me it is in the same realm as Kafka and Nitzsche. Inspiring and optimistic view on nihilism. great read.
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Karol Wild
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best philosophy Books read in 2023
Reviewed in Germany on May 9, 2023
It is a great book if you want to rethink or change your perspective on your social reality and life. For me it is in the same realm as Kafka and Nitzsche. Inspiring and optimistic view on nihilism. great read.
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Paris75
1.0 out of 5 stars Où est Caligula ?
Reviewed in France on February 24, 2023
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Version kindle, il n'y a que le Malentendu... Oubli de taille tout de même...
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Zachary Moon
5.0 out of 5 stars Camus Does Not Disappoint
Reviewed in Canada on January 4, 2021
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Camus was a genius. This unique second-person piece of fiction compliments his more philosophically focused works, functioning as an application of his ideas to an entertaining narrative. This piece is worth the read, especially for fans of Camus and his philosophy. I recommend reading his works “The Myth of Sisyphus” and “The Rebel” prior to this, or any of his fiction for that matter. In my opinion it enhances both ones understanding of his fiction, as well as their experience while reading it. If you enjoy the works of Camus, check out Jean-Paul Sartre for a similar, yet fundamentally different experience.
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