introduction
Fall

Commentary: A Portrait of Modern Man Reflected in the Mirror of Confession
Commentary: The Structure of "The Fall" and the Image of Water
Author's chronology
Translator's Note (2023)
Translator's Note (1989)

Albert Camus, the intellectual of the 20th century
Experience the spirit of absurdity and rebellion vividly conveyed to modern readers of the 21st century!

In the 20th century, after two world wars, the world was left materially devastated, and the belief that science and reason could benefit humanity collapsed, leaving many people feeling disillusioned with life.
Camus acknowledged the finiteness of life ('absurdity'), but recommended 'rebellion' that affirms life as fiercely as possible within its boundaries.
In the 21st century, material abundance has increased and science and reason have advanced, but with materialism and social conflict deepening, many people still feel disillusioned with life.
That is why Camus's 'rebellious optimism' of the 20th century is still relevant to modern readers of the 21st century.

“How honest can we be with ourselves?”
Fallen morals, rampant hypocrisy, a blurred sense of guilt…
Camus' autobiographical novel that sharply dissects the inherent absurdity of humanity!

At the time he was writing The Fall, Camus was in a difficult situation.
In 1952, he solidified his anti-Stalinist stance in The Rebel, engaging in fierce debates with Sartre and his followers, and eventually broke away from Sartre.
And when the Algerian War broke out in 1954, Camus was branded a traitor by both sides, as he did not support either the suppression of the Algerian uprising or the terrorism of the Algerian national liberation movement.
This period was certainly painful for Camus, who dreamed of solidarity within the community, moving from the discovery of absurdity to rebellion and the philosophy of love.
The Fall, published at this time, is a work that reflects not only Camus's thoughts but also his life, and is, to borrow Roger Grenier's expression, like the "bitter fruit" of a painful transitional period.
After publishing The Fall in 1956, Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the following year, in 1957.

The Fall is set in Amsterdam and is driven by a series of confessions by Clamence, a lawyer who is both “judge and confessor.”
For Camus, confession is the confluence of the three forms of 'novel', 'essay', and 'play' (which bind together his previous works).
Although it has a narrative form, the obsessive memory takes the form of a confession in a five-act play, and this confession has the character of an essay, that is, a work of consciousness-raising about sin.
In other words, 『The Fall』 can be said to be a work that embodies the author's ambition to combine essays, novels, and plays into one work.


Moreover, 『The Fall』 is a rare work of Camus's that, like 『The Territory and the Kingdom』, has strong autobiographical elements.
Through Clamence's words, Camus critically and satirically describes the human condition obsessed with the chronic ills of contemporary thought.
By taking the ambivalent position of being both a judge and a penitent, a judge of others, he criticizes the inherent duality and hypocrisy of human beings, including Camus himself.
In 『The Fall』, which was Camus's last publication before his death, we can see the mature thinker and novelist Camus was, and the true human being he was.
In that sense, it could be said to be the final destination of Camus' journey that began with 'A Happy Death' and 'The Stranger'.

The original, the complete, the fundamental!
The Complete Works of Albert Camus, a book that contains everything about Camus.

The most complete way to experience Camus's essence would be to read his works in French, but this is realistically difficult for Korean readers.
The complete works of Albert Camus, published by Chaeksesang, were translated by Professor Kim Hwa-young, Korea's foremost Camus expert, and the Pleiades edition of the complete works (Œuvres completes) published by the French publisher Gallimard, recognized as the definitive edition of Camus's works, was used as the script, focusing on fully conveying the world of Camus's works to Korean readers.


Among the complete works of Camus translated into many languages ​​around the world, the edition published by Professor Emeritus Kim Hwa-young's Chaeksesang is the only one in which a single translator translated all the volumes.
In 1987, Book World signed an exclusive publishing contract with France's Gallimard for the complete works of Albert Camus, and published a total of 20 volumes of the complete works of Albert Camus over 23 years, from "Marriage and Summer" (1987) to "Current Affairs Review" (2009), translated by Professor Kim Hwa-young, Korea's leading Camus expert.
Since Camus's posthumous copyright expired in 2011, various domestic publishers have published his representative works in various translations, but as of 2023, only Chaeksesang has published a complete collection.
The revised edition of the Complete Works of Albert Camus, which was launched in 2023 to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus, is a complete translation of the original text and depicts the most accurate path to approaching Camus' fundamental themes.


· The Hitchhiker's Guide to Albert Camus
https://bit.ly/3S80INr