The Fall by Albert Camus. Short summary

5 seconds

Former lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clemence comes to an Amsterdam bar to confess to a random listener. He tells of his successful and dignified life, which at one point went downhill.

1 minute

Former lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clemence, who previously had a successful practice in Paris, comes to Amsterdam’s Mexico City bar to tell a casual listener about his life. Clemans moved to Amsterdam recently, after a turning point in his life.

Practicing in Paris, the lawyer specialized in defending the poor, widows and orphans and considered his work noble. He despised judges. Clemence did not take bribes and always tried to be fair and this gave him satisfaction and self-satisfaction.

One night the lawyer was walking on the King’s Bridge and saw a girl. As he came down from the bridge, he heard the noise of a fallen body and a scream. The man did not rush to help, deciding that it was too late. From then on, everything in his life began to get upset. He realized he was taking advantage of the women who loved him and had many enemies. The lawyer had frightened away all his clients by his actions and had fallen into debauchery with prostitutes and alcohol.

Clemence thought the crisis would go away when he moved to another city, but that didn’t help either.