That was an excellent episode, and actually what lead me to read The Fall and begin listening to Stephen regularly. That and he has a great name.
What I find so striking about The Fall is that while Clamence is overtly terrible, a lot of the threads weaving the fabric of who he is are clearly a part of my own (and I imagine of most readers as well). I may not be evil, but the way Camus illustrates such a hyperbolically disgusting person makes it unsettlingly easy to see features of yourself in the resulting image, no matter how small. I loved it.
West does seem to take a more reserved stance on characters, real or figurative. Perhaps he doesn’t want to put off listeners with too strong of an opinion.
I haven’t listened to the podcast and it’s been years since I read The Fall — but in what sense is Clamence overtly terrible? My reading was that his feelings of guilt and pathological impulse to confess to minor wrongdoings was part of Camus’ critique of society.
He basically destroyed his life in a pouting fit over minor infractions — e.g, dwelling over the fact that he heard a scream on a bridge and didn’t call the police. He then ruminated over it obsessively.
Another example — he’s involved in a fairly relatable road-rage incident on a bicycle and lost face after the person slapped him and ran away. Again he tore himself up over it.
I had no idea any of these things made him guilty (what I thought was the point of the novel, that these feelings are absurd or something), let alone make him “terrible”.
I don't think Clamence is terrible, but I think his narrative ties into Sartre's concept of living in "bad faith." He was putting a lot of effort into an artificial persona: a very morally and ethically upstanding member of high society. This didn't really reflect who he was on the inside, the events he experienced created the neuroticism that chipped away at the facade.
Yes, I think you nailed it. There are much worse people in the world than Clamence to be sure. By terrible I mean both his manner and his experience, too. He’s a miserable person, and how relatable he is makes him seem more tangibly undesirable than someone grotesque and unfamiliar like Bateman.
That interpretation will vary wildly across individuals of course. Perhaps Clamence wouldn’t be remotely relatable to some people.
What I find so striking about The Fall is that while Clamence is overtly terrible, a lot of the threads weaving the fabric of who he is are clearly a part of my own (and I imagine of most readers as well). I may not be evil, but the way Camus illustrates such a hyperbolically disgusting person makes it unsettlingly easy to see features of yourself in the resulting image, no matter how small. I loved it.
West does seem to take a more reserved stance on characters, real or figurative. Perhaps he doesn’t want to put off listeners with too strong of an opinion.