In a bar in 20th century Amsterdam, the narrator, Jean-Baptiste Clamence - a one-time Parisian lawyer and power-hungry narcissist - meets a fellow French ex-patriot and former lawyer. Through a lengthy, one-sided discussion of his own unprincipled life and ideas, Clamence succeeds in unburdening himself and demoralizing his companion.
Clamence at first appears to be friendly and helpful, acting as intercessor for a fellow displaced Frenchman and the Dutch-speaking bartender, but he soon becomes more than just a Good Samaritan. The monologue that follows is far from everyday chit-chat. Clamence speaks of the corrupting influence of modern society on simple minds, bourgeois character, and human nature generally. He introduces himself as a "judge-penitent" - a paradoxical profession that Clamence will take the entire narrative to explain. There is a suggestion toward the middle of the first chapter.....
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