When I was concerned with others, I was so out of pure condescension, in utter freedom, and all the credit went to me: my self-esteem would go up a degree. I admitted only superiorities in me and this explained my good will and serenity. Even in the fields in which it was easy for me to verify my inferiority–like tennis, for instance, in which I was but a passable partner–it was hard for me not to think that, with a little time and practice, I would surpass the best players. I always considered myself more intelligent than everyone else, as I’ve told you, but also more sensitive and more skillful, a crack shot, an incomparable driver, a better lover. A Modern Library edition offering 'The Fall,' a short novel by the Algerian-born French author Albert Camus (1913-1960), as well as 'Exile and the Kingdom,' his collection of 6 short stories.

I simply felt released in the regard to all the for the excellent reason that I recognized no equals. It is quite true that I always lived free and powerful. The services in question have to do with getting you a drink from the barman, a burly man who only speaks Dutch. This is a conversation in which we only hear one person speaking the entire time. The narrator says that his love for life is his only. The Fall begins with the narrator offering you his services. I could never talk without boasting, especially if I did so with that shattering discretion that was my specialty. He describes himself as bursting with vanity, and in the course of the novel he reflects on every facet of his life that he finds meaningful. I, I, I is the refrain of my whole life, which could be heard in everything I said. I hope you enjoyed itThe Fall is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus. “I have to admit it humbly, mon cher compatriote, I was always bursting with vanity. Thanks for joining me for this live reading.

The Fall by Albert Camus