The Fall (French: La Chute) is a philosophical novel written by Albert Camus. First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction.

Set in Amsterdam, The Fall consists of a series of monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger. In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defence lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues; his crisis, and his ultimate "fall" from grace, was meant to invoke, in secular terms, The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden.

... Camus' primary aim is to draw the reader to the conclusion that life is entirely absurd -- and then teach them to come to terms with it. In a eulogy to Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre described the novel as "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus' books
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Amsterdam, moreover, is generally described in The Fall as a cold, wet place where a thick blanket of fog constantly hangs over the crowded, neon-light-lined streets. But aside from this eerie atmosphere (which could be established almost anywhere else) the city was also chosen by Camus for a more peculiar reason. In the opening pages Clamence casually remarks:

"Have you noticed that Amsterdam's concentric canals resemble the circles of hell? The middle-class hell, of course, peopled with bad dreams. When one comes from the outside, as one gradually goes through those circles, life -- and hence its crimes -- becomes denser, darker. Here, we are in the last circle. (Camus 283)"

The "last circle of hell" is the site of Amsterdam's red-light district and the location of a bar named Mexico City, which Clamence frequents night after night and where the bulk of his narrative gradually unfolds. (Mexico City actually existed in Amsterdam).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(novel)

 The students usually enjoyed the city. I didn't lose one in the canals, to my great relief :-)  


Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.