The Fall (Padenie)

'The Fall' is Camus's last completed novella. Attempting to answer the eternal question: 'What is the meaning of human existence?', the writer chooses the form of the hero's confessional monologue. Camus exposes the most terrible human vices, which defy condemnation by the court, as an authority, yet contradict virtue. The protagonist, recognizing himself as a hypocrite and a sinner, does not renounce his true nature, but finds justification for continuing his familiar life. It is not without reason that Jean-Paul Sartre characterized the novella as Camus's 'most beautiful and least understood' book.