Salvation Under the Sun: Resonances and Echoes of Ecclesiastes in Albert Camus's La Chute
Abstract
In La Chute (1956), Camus presents Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a hybrid figure drawing on Christ, Elijah, and especially John the Baptist, yet whose discourse resonates most strongly with that of Ecclesiastes. Similar to the preacher of Ecclesiastes, Clamence underscores the vanity of existence and adopts a speech that is oral, dogmatic, and quasi preaching in tone. This article proposes to read La Chute as a subversive reversal of Ecclesiastes. Through a posture of self-deification, Clamence distorts Solomonic wisdom and claims a narcissistic authority. His paradoxical conception of salvation lies in repetition and effacement: the circularity lamented by Ecclesiastes becomes, for him, a promise of immortality. Finally, his vocation as a “judge-penitent” ridicules the idea of a divine Judge while asserting his own superiority. These subversive echoes reveal the possibility of earthly happiness after the Edenic Fall.
Keywords:
Albert Camus, La Chute, Ecclesiastes, existentialism, preachingReferences
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