Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 5 opens with Clamence assuring his companion that the boat on which they travel is in fact moving at top speed, despite perceptual evidence to the contrary. Like the boat, Clamence has come to drift almost imperceptibly over his narrative and he begs his auditor to draw him from waxing lyrical on Greece back to the story at hand. Of course, we continue to hear only the words of Clamence and, of course, he continues in his own time to tell his tale.

Continuing on the subject of Greece, he tells how male friends in that country walk hand-in-hand in pure affection while the women remain at home. He contrasts this with the cynicism of Paris, where "decorum" disallows such public display. This social vignette concluded, Clamence ostensibly turns back to the topic of the "little-ease" first mentioned in the previous chapter. As...