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The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe, 1839

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This is a large collection of Poe's short stories and tales, with a short life of Poe at the front. It ranges across Gothic horror, detective fiction, science fiction, satire and comedy. Among its best-known pieces are Ligeia, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, A Descent Into the Maelström, The Masque of the Red Death, The Telltale Heart, The Purloined Letter and The Cask of Amontillado. In Usher a narrator visits a decaying mansion and the family collapses with the house.

Where it happens

  1. Boston Poe's birthplace.2
  2. Richmond, Virginia Where John and Frances Allan raised Poe.2
  3. Baltimore One of the cities Poe moved between while working for journals.2
  4. Philadelphia One of the cities Poe worked in as a critic and editor.2
  5. New York City Another city Poe's journal work took him to.2

Through time

  1. 1809Poe is born in Boston on 19 January.2
  2. 1839The Fall of the House of Usher appears in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in September.1
  3. 1840Poe collects Usher in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.1
  4. 1849Poe dies on 7 October.2
  5. 1928Éditions Narcisse issues a limited Usher with illustrations by Alastair.1

Who is in it, and behind it

Edgar Allan Poe author

American writer and critic (1809 to 1849), a pioneer of detective fiction and an early master of the short story.2

Roderick Usher character

The ill childhood friend whose mansion the narrator visits.1

Madeline Usher character

Roderick's sister, buried alive in the family tomb and later escaping it.1

John Allan patron

The Richmond man who took in the orphaned Poe but never formally adopted him.2

Washington Irving subject

Wrote Poe on 6 November 1839 that Usher laid on too much colouring.1

Herman Melville subject

John McAleer held that the flawed Ahab drew on the force of the Usher house.1

G. R. Thomson subject

Called Usher a masterpiece of Gothic horror, dramatic irony and structural symbolism.1

What it is about

Gothic horror and madness

Usher and many other tales turn on madness, family, isolation and the fear of burial.13

Early detective fiction

Poe is credited as a pioneer of the detective genre, and the collection includes his detective tales.23

Range of genres

The tales jump between Gothic horror, science fiction, satire, humor and mystery.3

In its own words

Horror and fatality have been stalking abroad in all ages. Why then give a date to this story I have to tell
Metzengerstein. Metzengerstein opens on fate. Read on
I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia
Ligeia. Ligeia's narrator begins to tell her story. Read on
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher. The famous opening of Usher. Read on
The mental features discoursed of as the analytical, are, in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis
The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The analyst described before the Rue Morgue murders. Read on
The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous
The Masque of the Red Death. The Masque of the Red Death begins. Read on
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night
The Telltale Heart. The narrator of the Telltale Heart explains his motive. Read on
At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18⁠—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisième, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St
The Purloined Letter. The Purloined Letter opens with Dupin and the narrator. Read on
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge
The Cask of Amontillado. The first line of the Cask of Amontillado. Read on

The shape of the book

69 chapters, 314,778 words. Point at a bar.

How it came to be here

Poe wrote mostly short stories and poems for magazines and periodicals such as the Southern Literary Messenger and Graham's Magazine, and he is counted among the first successful practitioners of the short story and a pioneer of detective fiction. The Fall of the House of Usher first appeared in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in September 1839 and was collected in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. The Standard Ebooks edition gathers the stories in a single volume of about 318,000 words.

Sources

  1. The Fall of the House of Usher (Wikipedia)
  2. Edgar Allan Poe (Wikipedia)
  3. Short Fiction, by Edgar Allan Poe, Standard Ebooks

Text: Standard Ebooks edition of the public-domain text. Standard Ebooks markup CC0 1.0; text public domain in the USA.

Holder's record

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