Mordant, brilliant, elegantly styled, The fall is a novel of the conscience of modern man in the face of evil. In a seedy bar in Amsterdam, Clamence, an expatriate Frenchman, indulges in a calculated confession. He recalls his past life as a respected Parisian lawyer, a champion of noble causes, and, privately, a libertine--yet one apparently immune to judgment. As his narrative unfolds, ambiguities amass; every trimph reveals a failure, every motive a hidden treachery. The irony of his recital anticipates his downfall--and implicates us all.