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Sự sụp đổ của nhà Usher
Sự sụp đổ của nhà Usher” là tuyển tập 30 truyện ngắn tiêu biểu của Edgar Allan Poe. Những câu chuyện dẫn dắt bạn đọc đến một thế giới riêng, nơi hiện thực và trí tưởng tượng điên rồ hoà quyện trong lối văn chương bí ẩn cổ quái.
Những câu chuyện ly kỳ mang đậm sắc màu u ám nhưng hàm chứa nhiều giá trị khoa học, từng bước khai mở những uẩn khúc nằm sâu trong bản chất tội ác của con người, để rồi khi chiêm nghiệm từng trang sách, bạn đọc không khỏi băn khoăn rằng liệu những điều vừa xảy ra chỉ là hư ảo hay có thật?
Và có khi nào trong tương lai chính họ cũng sẽ nhập vai vào những câu chuyện lạ kỳ không kém phần hấp dẫn dành riêng cho mình?
Những câu chuyện ly kỳ mang đậm sắc màu u ám nhưng hàm chứa nhiều giá trị khoa học, từng bước khai mở những uẩn khúc nằm sâu trong bản chất tội ác của con người, để rồi khi chiêm nghiệm từng trang sách, bạn đọc không khỏi băn khoăn rằng liệu những điều vừa xảy ra chỉ là hư ảo hay có thật?
Và có khi nào trong tương lai chính họ cũng sẽ nhập vai vào những câu chuyện lạ kỳ không kém phần hấp dẫn dành riêng cho mình?
552 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
1339 people are currently reading
30883 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,864 books28.5k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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October 3, 2025
Pure Classicness. Part II.
Yet another collection by legendary Poe. What is there to say? I love completionism! Another good but scarcely great mixed bag of sorts. You can always count on good ol’ Poe to get the job done… in an old fashioned convoluted kind of way. Thank God there was no poetry this time.
Go for the Best, consider the Good, whatever the Meh.
The Best :
★★★★☆ “The Black Cat.”
★★★★☆ "The Fall of the House of Usher." [3.5]
★★★★☆ “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” [3.5]
The Good :
★★★☆☆ "The Tell-Tale Heart."
★★★☆☆ “The Cask of Amontillado.”
★★★☆☆ “The Masque of the Red Death.”
★★★☆☆ “The Pit and the Pendulum.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “A Descent into the Maelström.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “The Purloined Letter.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “MS. Found in a Bottle.” [2.5]
The Meh :
★★☆☆☆ “The Man that Was Used Up.” [2.5]
★★☆☆☆ “The Balloon-Hoax.”
★★☆☆☆ “Diddling.” [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ “The Assignation.” [1.5]
It’s public domain. You can find it Vol 1. HERE, and Vol 2. HERE, and Vol 3. HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1845] [262p] [Collection] [Partly Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
★★☆☆☆ The Complete Stories and Poems
★★★☆☆ The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
★★★☆☆ The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
★☆☆☆☆ The Raven and Other Poems
-----------------------------------------------
Puro Clasicismo. Parte II.
Y otra colección más por el legendario Poe. ¿Qué más puedo decir? ¡Amo el complecionismo! Otra buena pero escasamente genial especie bolsa de mixtos. Siempre podés contar con el buen Poe para hacer el trabajo… en una medio anticuada y enrevesada manera. Gracias a Dios no hay poesía esta vez.
Ir por lo Mejor, considerar lo Bueno, loquesea lo Meh.
Lo Mejor :
★★★★☆ “El Gato Negro.”
★★★★☆ “El Hundimiento de la Casa de Usher.” [3.5]
★★★★☆ “La Narrativa de A. Gordon Pym.” [3.5]
Lo Bueno :
★★★☆☆ “El Corazón Revelador.”
★★★☆☆ “El Barril de Amontillado.”
★★★☆☆ “La Máscara de la Muerte Roja.”
★★★☆☆ “El Pozo y el Péndulo.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Los Crímenes de la Rue Morgue.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Un Descenso Dentro del Maelstrom.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “La Carta Robada.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Manuscrito Hallado en una Botella.” [2.5]
Lo Meh :
★★☆☆☆ “El Hombre que se Acabó.” [2.5]
★★☆☆☆ “El Infundio del Globo.”
★★☆☆☆ “El Arte de Timar.” [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ “La Cita.” [1.5]
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar Vol 1. ACA, and Vol 2. ACA, y Vol 3. ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1845] [262p] [Colección] [Parcialmente Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
Yet another collection by legendary Poe. What is there to say? I love completionism! Another good but scarcely great mixed bag of sorts. You can always count on good ol’ Poe to get the job done… in an old fashioned convoluted kind of way. Thank God there was no poetry this time.
Go for the Best, consider the Good, whatever the Meh.
The Best :
★★★★☆ “The Black Cat.”
★★★★☆ "The Fall of the House of Usher." [3.5]
★★★★☆ “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” [3.5]
The Good :
★★★☆☆ "The Tell-Tale Heart."
★★★☆☆ “The Cask of Amontillado.”
★★★☆☆ “The Masque of the Red Death.”
★★★☆☆ “The Pit and the Pendulum.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “A Descent into the Maelström.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “The Purloined Letter.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “MS. Found in a Bottle.” [2.5]
The Meh :
★★☆☆☆ “The Man that Was Used Up.” [2.5]
★★☆☆☆ “The Balloon-Hoax.”
★★☆☆☆ “Diddling.” [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ “The Assignation.” [1.5]
It’s public domain. You can find it Vol 1. HERE, and Vol 2. HERE, and Vol 3. HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1845] [262p] [Collection] [Partly Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★☆☆ The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
★★☆☆☆ The Complete Stories and Poems
★★★☆☆ The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
★★★☆☆ The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
★☆☆☆☆ The Raven and Other Poems
-----------------------------------------------
Puro Clasicismo. Parte II.
Y otra colección más por el legendario Poe. ¿Qué más puedo decir? ¡Amo el complecionismo! Otra buena pero escasamente genial especie bolsa de mixtos. Siempre podés contar con el buen Poe para hacer el trabajo… en una medio anticuada y enrevesada manera. Gracias a Dios no hay poesía esta vez.
Ir por lo Mejor, considerar lo Bueno, loquesea lo Meh.
Lo Mejor :
★★★★☆ “El Gato Negro.”
★★★★☆ “El Hundimiento de la Casa de Usher.” [3.5]
★★★★☆ “La Narrativa de A. Gordon Pym.” [3.5]
Lo Bueno :
★★★☆☆ “El Corazón Revelador.”
★★★☆☆ “El Barril de Amontillado.”
★★★☆☆ “La Máscara de la Muerte Roja.”
★★★☆☆ “El Pozo y el Péndulo.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Los Crímenes de la Rue Morgue.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Un Descenso Dentro del Maelstrom.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “La Carta Robada.” [2.5]
★★★☆☆ “Manuscrito Hallado en una Botella.” [2.5]
Lo Meh :
★★☆☆☆ “El Hombre que se Acabó.” [2.5]
★★☆☆☆ “El Infundio del Globo.”
★★☆☆☆ “El Arte de Timar.” [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ “La Cita.” [1.5]
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar Vol 1. ACA, and Vol 2. ACA, y Vol 3. ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1845] [262p] [Colección] [Parcialmente Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
June 15, 2017
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Before reading this book, I had a misconception that Edger Allen Poe was a horror writer.
Oh, how wrong I was!
Yes, Poe might be known for his stories of macabre and gothic horror. But it was his versatility that I found attractive in his writings. Without much further ado, let's see what this collection holds
Macabre/Horror
TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I AM MAD?
Most of the stories in this collection are Gothic horror. I found his work on this genre not scary, but thoroughly enjoyable. Poe presents some of his signature stories in a unique way: Through the eyes of the killer/ mad man. The most famous one being Tell-Tale Heart which features an unreliable madman as the narrator. Likewise, Poe's The Cask of Amontillado is narrated by a reliable killer. Another tale, The black cat borrows its plot elements from Tell-tale heart and delivers a wicked little tale.
The Pit and the Pendulum is about a prisoner of Spanish Inquisition and presents a unique imagery in the minds of the reader.
*Gasps*
While I was reading Fall of House Usher, I understood that Poe had a thing for the burial of bodies. Seriously, he was in love with that plot element.
Even though all of the above were excellent stories, my favourite in this genre, no, scratch that, in this book is The Masque of Red death which oddly had something Shakespearian about it. I loved the allusion and the imagery it invoked.
Adventure
The very memorable The Descent into Maelstrom is a ride like no other. It tells a tale of a man who survived a terrible maelstrom at sea with the help of reasoning skills.
Manuscript found in a bottle is yet another nautical adventure which tells a tale of a man who got stuck in a ghost ship. I was a bit confused with the story and apparently, so is the good people of Internet. The story is even analysed as a satire by certain pundits!
Sci-Fi
The Balloon Hoax: Even though this story could give Jules Verne run for his money, the science is too outdated to enjoy this one. Yet this story is unique because of its publication history. This was written by Poe as an actual news report which was published in the newspaper in the year of 1844. People got so excited about the whole thing.... until it turned out to be a hoax. Hence the name.
Detective fiction
C. Auguste Dupin. Anyone know who that is? Because I had no idea!
From Wikipedia
Seriously, if Poe were not to write these stories, we might have ended up not having a Sherlock Holmes! Holmes character resembles Poe's Dupin in terms of method and style. The first story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue introduces us to this character and his methods. Even though this was the pioneer detective story, it is bogged down by lengthy narrative and a... well... weird reveal. Everything associated with this story is weird. Have you listened to the song, Murders in Rue Morgue by Iron Maiden? Weird!
The second story, The Purloined Letter featuring Dupin clearly shows that he is Sherlock Holmes. The story features incriminating documents being used for blackmailing and police's struggle to retrieve it. I remember reading an exact replica of this story featuring Holmes written by Doyle. (I can't remember the name)
Satire
The man who was used up is a pretty funny satire. Yes, SATIRE. He even writes satire.
There were also two other stories. Diddling and Assignation which were quite boring and forgettable.
Ahoy, A Novel
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only novel written by Poe and it is a mixed bag in terms of storytelling. Opening with a sea voyage that went wrong, the narrative presents some excellent chapters. But it falls flat in the second half as the story changes its direction.
For a detailed review of the novel-----> Here!
Overall, Poe is a legend. He is a pioneer and a brilliant writer. Don't believe me? Read these stories!
February 22, 2025
This selection of short stories reveals Edgar Allan Poe in all his moods. All the stories have been reviewed, but some have their own separate reviews and star rating. These are indicated with links at the end. This review and star rating is for the remainder of this selection.
The Fall of the House of Usher (published in 1839) is the title story of the collection. It may well be one of the stories which started the current interest in the gothic genre, although Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho", for instance, had been published much earlier in 1794. Apart from its parody in Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey", Radcliffe's work has now largely been forgotten along with other great gothic works from the time. Yet The Fall of the House of Usher remains perennially popular and influential. Poe regarded it as his most successful example of "totality" , in that every detail and event in the story is relevant to the plot.
The viewpoint character has been invited to the house of a childhood friend, Roderick Usher, in order to cheer him as he is weak, ill and depressed.
Very early on in this story we are encouraged to empathise with the narrator, as his surroundings become increasingly grotesque, sinister and threatening. The "House of Usher", we are told, describes both the family and the mansion itself, and on learning this snippet of information the ending to this story is neatly telegraphed, albeit on an almost subconscious level.
Poe is at the height of his powers of description in this tale. Here is the man's first sight of the house:
"about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn - a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernable, and leaden-hued."
And here's another atmospheric depiction, of his room this time:
"the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room - of the dark and tattered draperies which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations about my bed."
Or what about this evocative description of (super)natural phenomena:
"the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion."
The whole tale is superbly imbued with a sense of forboding and impending doom. Conversation is virtually absent; the only occasions being for dramatic effect, for example
The culmination of this story is a masterpiece of gothic description. Our credulity is stretched as the characters reach a point of hysteria, or was something more supernatural at work?
In all Poe wrote 69 short stories, but this book contains just 14, including the title story just reviewed, plus a novella - The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym - a nautical adventure. The first 3 are also nautical stories:
The Balloon Hoax (1844), interestingly, was exactly that - a hoax. Apparently Poe wrote it as fiction pretending to be a newspaper article about a European balloonist called Edward Monck Mason crossing the Atlantic in a gas balloon in three days. There are many detailed technical specifications, which means that the story itself is not very interesting, although perhaps any hoax is going to have to seem rather dry and technical to be convincing. He is building up a fiction to seem true, which is almost the reverse of the ratiocination stories such as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" , where the reader has to take things apart to solve a problem. Hot air balloons were still in their infancy, so it can be regarded as an early form of SF, and some think it may have been the inspiration for Jules Verne's later work, "Around the World in Eighty days."
Manuscript Found in a Bottle (1833) The narrator here is a traveller who has been shipwrecked along with one other old man, after a violent sandstorm and hurricane has killed the captain and crew of his ship.
The reader can appreciate the beautiful powerful but haunting descriptions of Nature in this story, and marvel at the narrator's isolation and the increasingly spectral quality of the crew. It has been suggested that this is a satire of typical sea stories. One critic described it as, "a sustained crescendo of ever-building dread in the face of ever-stranger and ever-more-imminent catastrophe."
A Descent into Maelstrom (1841) is a very similar tale, with Poe's extraordinary take on the nautical story with his extravagant and atmospheric use of language. There is a tale within a tale. The narrator is told the story of a fishermen versus the elements off the Norwegian coast a few years earlier, and is told that A Descent into Maelstrom has been credited as an example of an early SF story. Both these two stories remind the reader of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), and are tales of sensation which emphasise the narrator's thoughts and feelings, and his terror of being killed in the whirlpool. Again, they have evocative powerful descriptions of storms at sea, but unless you are a fan of nautical literature, you may find that you admire them, but that leave you cold. They may not evoke the chill and dread of the true horror story we associate with Poe.
Here follow some links to my reviews of the other stories in this collection:
The Assignation is reviewed link here
The Black Cat is reviewed link here
The Cask of Amontillado is reviewed link here
Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences is reviewed link here
The Man that Was Used Up: A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign is reviewed link here
The Masque of the Red Death is reviewed link here
The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) and The Purloined Letter (1844) are both reviewed in the collection which contains 5 short stories about the detective Auguste Dupin. Link here to my review of that collection.
The Pit and the Pendulum is reviewed link here
The Tell-Tale Heart is reviewed link here
In most of these stories are the elements we associate with Poe as a so-called "Dark Romantic" - the human fallibility and proneness to sin, personal torment and self-destruction. (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville also write in this Gothic sub-genre.) The delusions, spectres and phantasms he conjures up are all anthropomorphised evil. Two or three of the stories here are tongue-in-cheek or humorous, but most display Poe's sinister recurring themes and motifs, thus providing a good introduction to his work.
The Fall of the House of Usher (published in 1839) is the title story of the collection. It may well be one of the stories which started the current interest in the gothic genre, although Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho", for instance, had been published much earlier in 1794. Apart from its parody in Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey", Radcliffe's work has now largely been forgotten along with other great gothic works from the time. Yet The Fall of the House of Usher remains perennially popular and influential. Poe regarded it as his most successful example of "totality" , in that every detail and event in the story is relevant to the plot.
The viewpoint character has been invited to the house of a childhood friend, Roderick Usher, in order to cheer him as he is weak, ill and depressed.
Very early on in this story we are encouraged to empathise with the narrator, as his surroundings become increasingly grotesque, sinister and threatening. The "House of Usher", we are told, describes both the family and the mansion itself, and on learning this snippet of information the ending to this story is neatly telegraphed, albeit on an almost subconscious level.
Poe is at the height of his powers of description in this tale. Here is the man's first sight of the house:
"about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn - a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernable, and leaden-hued."
And here's another atmospheric depiction, of his room this time:
"the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room - of the dark and tattered draperies which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations about my bed."
Or what about this evocative description of (super)natural phenomena:
"the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion."
The whole tale is superbly imbued with a sense of forboding and impending doom. Conversation is virtually absent; the only occasions being for dramatic effect, for example
The culmination of this story is a masterpiece of gothic description. Our credulity is stretched as the characters reach a point of hysteria, or was something more supernatural at work?
In all Poe wrote 69 short stories, but this book contains just 14, including the title story just reviewed, plus a novella - The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym - a nautical adventure. The first 3 are also nautical stories:
The Balloon Hoax (1844), interestingly, was exactly that - a hoax. Apparently Poe wrote it as fiction pretending to be a newspaper article about a European balloonist called Edward Monck Mason crossing the Atlantic in a gas balloon in three days. There are many detailed technical specifications, which means that the story itself is not very interesting, although perhaps any hoax is going to have to seem rather dry and technical to be convincing. He is building up a fiction to seem true, which is almost the reverse of the ratiocination stories such as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" , where the reader has to take things apart to solve a problem. Hot air balloons were still in their infancy, so it can be regarded as an early form of SF, and some think it may have been the inspiration for Jules Verne's later work, "Around the World in Eighty days."
Manuscript Found in a Bottle (1833) The narrator here is a traveller who has been shipwrecked along with one other old man, after a violent sandstorm and hurricane has killed the captain and crew of his ship.
The reader can appreciate the beautiful powerful but haunting descriptions of Nature in this story, and marvel at the narrator's isolation and the increasingly spectral quality of the crew. It has been suggested that this is a satire of typical sea stories. One critic described it as, "a sustained crescendo of ever-building dread in the face of ever-stranger and ever-more-imminent catastrophe."
A Descent into Maelstrom (1841) is a very similar tale, with Poe's extraordinary take on the nautical story with his extravagant and atmospheric use of language. There is a tale within a tale. The narrator is told the story of a fishermen versus the elements off the Norwegian coast a few years earlier, and is told that A Descent into Maelstrom has been credited as an example of an early SF story. Both these two stories remind the reader of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), and are tales of sensation which emphasise the narrator's thoughts and feelings, and his terror of being killed in the whirlpool. Again, they have evocative powerful descriptions of storms at sea, but unless you are a fan of nautical literature, you may find that you admire them, but that leave you cold. They may not evoke the chill and dread of the true horror story we associate with Poe.
Here follow some links to my reviews of the other stories in this collection:
The Assignation is reviewed link here
The Black Cat is reviewed link here
The Cask of Amontillado is reviewed link here
Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences is reviewed link here
The Man that Was Used Up: A Tale of the Late Bugaboo and Kickapoo Campaign is reviewed link here
The Masque of the Red Death is reviewed link here
The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) and The Purloined Letter (1844) are both reviewed in the collection which contains 5 short stories about the detective Auguste Dupin. Link here to my review of that collection.
The Pit and the Pendulum is reviewed link here
The Tell-Tale Heart is reviewed link here
In most of these stories are the elements we associate with Poe as a so-called "Dark Romantic" - the human fallibility and proneness to sin, personal torment and self-destruction. (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville also write in this Gothic sub-genre.) The delusions, spectres and phantasms he conjures up are all anthropomorphised evil. Two or three of the stories here are tongue-in-cheek or humorous, but most display Poe's sinister recurring themes and motifs, thus providing a good introduction to his work.
August 9, 2022
I was just going to read ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ to remind myself of it before reading T. Kingfisher's ‘What Moves the Dead’ which is presented as an extended retelling of the story. I found myself, however, reminded of how good a writer Poe was, and had to go on and reread many of the stories in this collection. It's a great collection with ‘The Tell-Tale heart ‘ and ‘The Black Cat’ among my favorites.
January 15, 2021
This collection includes many of Poe's most well-known and memorable stories, including the following (along with ratings for each and some song lyrics that might be insightful or amusing, or not):
The Balloon Hoax - 1/5 - my friends say I should act my age
MS. Found in a Bottle - 2/5 - just a dream and the wind to carry me, and soon I will be free
A Descent into the Maelstrom - 3/5 - rock you like a hurricane
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - 3/5 - now I am the proudest monkey you've ever seen
The Purloined Letter - 3/5 - there probably was a problem at the post office or somethin'
The Black Cat - 4/5 - I got cat class and I got cat style
The Fall of the House of Usher - 3/5 - hold tight, we're in for nasty weather
The Pit and the Pendulum - 3/5 - jury found him guilty, gave him sixteen years in hell
The Masque of the Red Death - 3/5 - I've got a fever of a hundred and three
The Cask of Amontillado - 3/5 - red red wine, it's up to you
The Assignation - 3/5 - the statue got me high
The Tell-Tale Heart - 4/5 - kickstart my heart
Diddling - 3/5 - if you've got the inclination I have the crime
The Man that was Used Up - 2/5 - come on tell me who are you
In addition, Poe's only full-length novel is also included in this collection:
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - 3/5 - Poe would later refer to his only full-length novel as "a very silly book." Modeled after popular sea-voyage exploits - fictional and non - of the time, Poe spins a wild adventure tale that encompasses several unlikely episodes in the young life of his fictional narrator, Pym. From a literary standpoint, Narrative is most notable for having influenced Verne, Melville, Doyle and Lovecraft, whose own At the Mountains of Madness could almost be a sequel to this novel. Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!
The Balloon Hoax - 1/5 - my friends say I should act my age
MS. Found in a Bottle - 2/5 - just a dream and the wind to carry me, and soon I will be free
A Descent into the Maelstrom - 3/5 - rock you like a hurricane
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - 3/5 - now I am the proudest monkey you've ever seen
The Purloined Letter - 3/5 - there probably was a problem at the post office or somethin'
The Black Cat - 4/5 - I got cat class and I got cat style
The Fall of the House of Usher - 3/5 - hold tight, we're in for nasty weather
The Pit and the Pendulum - 3/5 - jury found him guilty, gave him sixteen years in hell
The Masque of the Red Death - 3/5 - I've got a fever of a hundred and three
The Cask of Amontillado - 3/5 - red red wine, it's up to you
The Assignation - 3/5 - the statue got me high
The Tell-Tale Heart - 4/5 - kickstart my heart
Diddling - 3/5 - if you've got the inclination I have the crime
The Man that was Used Up - 2/5 - come on tell me who are you
In addition, Poe's only full-length novel is also included in this collection:
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - 3/5 - Poe would later refer to his only full-length novel as "a very silly book." Modeled after popular sea-voyage exploits - fictional and non - of the time, Poe spins a wild adventure tale that encompasses several unlikely episodes in the young life of his fictional narrator, Pym. From a literary standpoint, Narrative is most notable for having influenced Verne, Melville, Doyle and Lovecraft, whose own At the Mountains of Madness could almost be a sequel to this novel. Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!
October 25, 2018
I've been slowly working my way through this over the past six months, reading a story here and there. Initially I was quite daunted by the idea of Edgar Allan Poe, but as I progressed through the collection I found myself relaxing into it and just enjoying the writing. There were many standout stories in this collection, but I did especially enjoy The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Premature Burial, The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-tale Heart and The Spectacles which was a rather funny story.
The Domain of Arnheim and Landor's Cottage, were the only two stories that I found myself having to make an effort to maintain my focus- they were beautifully written though, and not too long.
I'm glad I read this and intend to read more Poe soon.
The Domain of Arnheim and Landor's Cottage, were the only two stories that I found myself having to make an effort to maintain my focus- they were beautifully written though, and not too long.
I'm glad I read this and intend to read more Poe soon.
December 24, 2009
The Balloon-Hoax - Wow. That was really boring.
Ms. Found in a Bottle - Good suspense, but the ending confused me.
A Descent into the Maelstrom - Not too memorable.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - A rather silly Holmes-esque mystery tale.
The Purloined Letter - Not bad, but far too wordy.
The Black Cat - Deliciously disturbing.
The Fall of the House of Usher - Not as interesting as his others, but good atmosphere.
The Pit and the Pendulum - A delightful tale of suspense.
The Masque of the Red Death - Meh. Weird for no reason and kind of boring.
The Cask of Amontillado - I think makes Poe so memorable is his vivid first-person accounts from the point of view of a killer.
The Assignation - I couldn't follow this one. What did the drowning child and the art aficionado have to do with one another?
The Tell-Tale Heart - Funnier than I'd remembered. One of my all-time favorites.
Diddling - A random essay on swindling.
The Man That was Used Up - Silly, amusing, but ends a bit too abruptly.
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym - Some good bits, but I think I just don't like maritime fiction.
Ms. Found in a Bottle - Good suspense, but the ending confused me.
A Descent into the Maelstrom - Not too memorable.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - A rather silly Holmes-esque mystery tale.
The Purloined Letter - Not bad, but far too wordy.
The Black Cat - Deliciously disturbing.
The Fall of the House of Usher - Not as interesting as his others, but good atmosphere.
The Pit and the Pendulum - A delightful tale of suspense.
The Masque of the Red Death - Meh. Weird for no reason and kind of boring.
The Cask of Amontillado - I think makes Poe so memorable is his vivid first-person accounts from the point of view of a killer.
The Assignation - I couldn't follow this one. What did the drowning child and the art aficionado have to do with one another?
The Tell-Tale Heart - Funnier than I'd remembered. One of my all-time favorites.
Diddling - A random essay on swindling.
The Man That was Used Up - Silly, amusing, but ends a bit too abruptly.
Narrative of A. Gordon Pym - Some good bits, but I think I just don't like maritime fiction.
February 20, 2024
Mit Ausnahme von zwei Geschichten hier fand ich Poes Kurzgeschichten grandios. Er versteht sich darauf, sie genau im richtigen Moment zu beenden, wenn die Wirkung am größten ist. Seine Sprache fängt den Wahnsinn und die Angst oder Bosheit seiner Figuren gezielt ein - wiedermal ist es die Sprache, die mich kriegt.
Wenn mich in letzter Zeit jemand für Horror und Grusel erwärmt, dann Poe.
Wenn mich in letzter Zeit jemand für Horror und Grusel erwärmt, dann Poe.
October 17, 2024
Nero, enigmatico, gotico, terrificante, ricercato, brillante, ironico: non è il mio genere, davvero, ma non si possono non riconoscere la qualità letteraria di questi racconti, la capacità di Edgar Allan Poe di trascinare chi legge in territori in cui molti (io di sicuro) non hanno il piacere di addentrarsi, o quella di coinvolgerli nel cercare soluzioni a enigmi apparentemente impossibili da risolvere. Per poi lasciarli tremare nell’oscurità, strisciare lungo le pareti, cercare di riconquistare l’uscita; e con lei, la luce. Tutta un'altra luce, però.
Lettura numero 1 del bookclub del Centro Studi Americano di Roma - BrightLightsBookClub
April 13, 2016
This was my first ever collection i have read of mr. Poe and I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection. The collection was my pick for all hallow's read to read for Halloween this year. I also hosted a readalong of this collection online on facebook andat the all about books book club on goodreads. This month from october 20th through tonight we read and discussed the stories by poe that was in this collection along with the novel A narrative of A. Gordon Pym. It also included my favorite poe story The Masque of the Red Death which I first read in middle school. It is still a favorite to this day. The only stories I did not enjoy were diddling and the man that was used up. I would definitely reccomend this colle ction to others. Go to the all about books book club on goodreads to see my comments on these stories at this link https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and enjoy!
August 26, 2010
3.5 stars. I did not read (or listen to) all of the books in this collection so this review is for the books listed below (I will periodically update as I listen to more of the stories):
"The Pit and the Pendulum" (2.5 to 3.0 stars): The best way I can think of to describe Poe's writing is "atmospheric" and he certainly does a good job creating atmosphere in this short story. A good, solid story but not the "classic" I was hoping for.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" (4.0 stars): My favorite Poe story Of the ones listed here. A short, well-written and powerful story about guilt.
"The Masque of the Red Death" (3.0 stars): Another good, solid short story by Poe and one that I think I liked better for not having overly high expectatons for it going in.
"The Pit and the Pendulum" (2.5 to 3.0 stars): The best way I can think of to describe Poe's writing is "atmospheric" and he certainly does a good job creating atmosphere in this short story. A good, solid story but not the "classic" I was hoping for.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" (4.0 stars): My favorite Poe story Of the ones listed here. A short, well-written and powerful story about guilt.
"The Masque of the Red Death" (3.0 stars): Another good, solid short story by Poe and one that I think I liked better for not having overly high expectatons for it going in.
January 6, 2011
Inspired Madness
A Book Review of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
There’s no denying that much of modern horror fiction — as we know it anyway — grew out of the gloomy, chaotic depth of the 19th century when a few demented souls were churning out tales of things that go bump in the night. These were writers who were dubbed freaks during their time and, as if the patina of age hasn’t wore off, are still considered as such today. They broke taboos, infringed established rules, attacked the sensibilities of their era, and twisted genres to the breaking point. Sure thing, they died broke, scorned or both, yet in the process gave birth to some of the great works of literature, became a pioneer and initiated many of the conventions that are now considered commonplace in much of today’s horror fiction.
Thus, in my exploration (and bid to become the most annoying know-it-all) in matters concerning the horror genre, I looked back and was lead on this dark alleyway, in the hall of one of the most venerable Old Masters of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe.
Looking at Poe’s life, one gets a fair idea that the man led a tragic, if not a horrific life. He was a poet at heart, aching for personal losses and hopping from job to job in the publishing world while he tried to find something fulfilling amid alcoholism and depression. To help pay the bills, like so many writers before and after him, he turned to sensationalism.
Lucky for us, he was good at it, and the results were among the most vivid and chilling horror tales ever written. You’ve got your buried alive tale (The Premature Burial), your revenge tale (The Cask of Amontillado), your torture tale (The Pit and the Pendulum), your plague tale (The Masque of the Red Death), your haunted house tale (The Fall of the House of Usher) and perhaps the most vivid of all, the internalized ghost story (The Tell-Tale Heart). It is the last of these that always struck me as the most effective, at least among Poe’s work. All of these stories are important to the genre. Many of them are flat out revolutionary, and have been imitated ever since.
But there’s something about The Tell-Tale Heart, on the relentless psychological hell it seems to hurl into the reader’s head, that makes it stand out as a masterwork among masterworks. It speaks to the fear that we might lose control of the one thing we always thought we could manage: ourselves. We all have our own little bodies under the floorboards, and even if we’re not murderers, it’s a story that suggests we could be — which, in my opinion, might be among the scariest feelings of all. Poe was a master at conveying this kind of internal torture, and for all the unapologetic sensationalism of his work, it’s that internalized agony that makes it all too real for us.
The reader of an Edgar Allan Poe story — we could also throw in his splendid poems, I presume — may expect to encounter characters in the grip of extreme experience. Murder is common, as is madness, and life at times can seem a horror. Reading his stories is a retreat from humanity into a ghastly realm where as much as possible of the human is left out, where our weaknesses became wobbling strengths and our trembling gasping cries. But what we forever owe to Poe is he dared to look, when others have no guts even to take peek, at the door where horror lurks opening a worm of possibilities that slithered in and out of the genre to which he may have the (bloody?) hand of creating. More than anything else, it is Poe who sculpted, with such fine craftsmanship, a form out of our very own fears and nightmares.
_________________________
Book Details:
Published by Signet Classics
(Mass Market Paperback, 1980 Edition)
383 pages
Started: October 6, 2010
Finished: October 23, 2010
My Rating: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
May 13, 2024
I find with this collection, my opinion on Poe is evolving; becoming more refined. First, this may be better named The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym and Other Tales as Poe’s only full-length novel closing out this compendium is the lion's share of the pages. Also, purported as a response to a Poe hoax is completes the bookends with the initial newspaper piece "Balloon-Hoax".
In this realm of writing, I find there is science fiction - tales tethered to scientific facts - and science fantasy - fiction with more magical, mystical premises. Popularly, Poe may be thought more in the fantasy with this "macabre" musings, but really he is more like Jules Verne in that he is tightly bound to a scientific reality, if even he relies on unproven assumptions. Much of that here is of a nautical flavor: "Ms. Found in a bottle" and "Descent into the maelstrom", etc. I find Poe loses effectiveness when he tries to bring in byzantine details and the ornate imaginings crowd out of the exposition anything that would allow a reader to solve the case or even put it together from any missed clues on a re-read as in "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined letter" where the delight in details becomes a breathless exercise in ratiocination thus being some of world's first detective stories but with deux ex machina revelations. More to the fantasy side we have "Black cat" (I recoil at the animal cruelty) and maybe even the eponymous "Fall of the house of Usher". Some of his famous stories here for me are exemplars of how he should just keep it simple. "Pit and the pendulum" gives to us the relentless, nearing death but does anyone really reflect back with joy on the multiple awakenings, pit-within-a-pit, compacting walls, and Lord of the Flies ending? Similarly, in "Masque of the red death" like in The Village (2004 film) (even with the 'bad color') we have the seeds of destruction brought into the man-made Eden, but do we really need the various monochromatic rooms and intricacies of spreading light? I feel Poe is best at simple, direct tale of base and basic human motivations with little adornment, as in "Cask of Amontillado" and "Tell-tale heart", which Stephen King called “the best tale of inside evil ever written”.
In this realm of writing, I find there is science fiction - tales tethered to scientific facts - and science fantasy - fiction with more magical, mystical premises. Popularly, Poe may be thought more in the fantasy with this "macabre" musings, but really he is more like Jules Verne in that he is tightly bound to a scientific reality, if even he relies on unproven assumptions. Much of that here is of a nautical flavor: "Ms. Found in a bottle" and "Descent into the maelstrom", etc. I find Poe loses effectiveness when he tries to bring in byzantine details and the ornate imaginings crowd out of the exposition anything that would allow a reader to solve the case or even put it together from any missed clues on a re-read as in "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined letter" where the delight in details becomes a breathless exercise in ratiocination thus being some of world's first detective stories but with deux ex machina revelations. More to the fantasy side we have "Black cat" (I recoil at the animal cruelty) and maybe even the eponymous "Fall of the house of Usher". Some of his famous stories here for me are exemplars of how he should just keep it simple. "Pit and the pendulum" gives to us the relentless, nearing death but does anyone really reflect back with joy on the multiple awakenings, pit-within-a-pit, compacting walls, and Lord of the Flies ending? Similarly, in "Masque of the red death" like in The Village (2004 film) (even with the 'bad color') we have the seeds of destruction brought into the man-made Eden, but do we really need the various monochromatic rooms and intricacies of spreading light? I feel Poe is best at simple, direct tale of base and basic human motivations with little adornment, as in "Cask of Amontillado" and "Tell-tale heart", which Stephen King called “the best tale of inside evil ever written”.
April 14, 2015
The opening sequence right away sets-up the mood of the story – “the soundlessness of the autumn day, low-hanging clouds, dreariness of the countryside, waning of the day, the melancholy house itself.” The descriptions are so amazing of the inside of the Usher House which intensifies the impression of gloom and decay given by the outside. Such symbolism too! The way that Roderick’s studio is reached “through many dark and intricate passages” suggest that access to his mind is hidden and convoluted as well. The crafting of the tone is brilliant.
May 2, 2023
this is the third time i have read the same dead-but-not-dead plot in a story by poe but it somehow gets me everytime
September 24, 2025
Оповідання "Падіння дому Ашерів" зовсім не справило на мене враження. Попри намагання автора створити атмосферу страху й тривоги, історія здалася перевантаженою й надто затягнутою. Візит героя до Родерика, дивна хвороба, смерть сестри та події в Домі Ашерів — усе це мало б викликати жах і напруження, але, на жаль, залишило мене байдужим. Замість моторошної класики я відчула лише нудьгу
November 4, 2023
Acht Kurzgeschichten durfte ich in meiner Ausgabe von Fischer Klassik kennenlernen, die Edgar Allan Poe als meisterhaften Erzähler zeigen. Nicht nur in seinem Glanzstück “Der Untergang des Hauses Usher”, in dem er den Verfall eines Hauses als Objekt und gleichzeitig einer ganzen Familiendynastie schildert, anhand von ein paar Tagen, die das lyrische Ich im bröckelnden Anwesen der Ushers verbringt - auch in seinen anderen Erzählungen, die mal mehr Grusel- und Fantastik- mal mehr Kriminalelemente beinhalten, versteht er es wie kein zweiter, eine stimmungsvolle Atmosphäre zu schaffen, die sich mehr und mehr mit Spannung auflädt. Sowohl äußerliche als auch innere Gewalten werden von ihm mit einer unglaublichen Genauigkeit beschrieben, die die Lesenden mitten in das Geschehen kippen lässt.
Ich bin sehr glücklich, dass ich mal wieder in ein klassisches Werk so eintauchen und es mich in seiner Erzählkunst so begeistern konnte. Für mich hatten zwei bis drei Erzählungen an der ein oder anderen Stelle einen Haken oder konnten mich nicht vollkommen mitreißen, insgesamt steht das Werk aber natürlich in keinster Weise seinem guten Ruf nach. Absolute Herbst-Halloween-Empfehlung!
Ich bin sehr glücklich, dass ich mal wieder in ein klassisches Werk so eintauchen und es mich in seiner Erzählkunst so begeistern konnte. Für mich hatten zwei bis drei Erzählungen an der ein oder anderen Stelle einen Haken oder konnten mich nicht vollkommen mitreißen, insgesamt steht das Werk aber natürlich in keinster Weise seinem guten Ruf nach. Absolute Herbst-Halloween-Empfehlung!
September 8, 2009
Hearing your name given to literary characters is a weird experience. I guess I should be thankful I don't have a more common name, like Sarah or Kate or whatever. Sharing a name with a fictional character doesn't happen to me often - the last one I can remember is The Departed, where the single female character was named Madeline but it didn't really matter because she got called by name a whopping one time - but when it does it's weird.
Especially when you're reading this story by Poe, and the girl in the coffin is named Madeline. It made the story even creepier than it already was.
Especially when you're reading this story by Poe, and the girl in the coffin is named Madeline. It made the story even creepier than it already was.
June 22, 2021
4 Stars. My first look at a collection of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. A true revelation. I've come to him later than many and regret I didn't experience his tales earlier. Not all of them mind you - Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" contains an equal amount of racism, if not more, than Poe's "The Man That Was Used Up" as well as its ridicule of those with disabilities and Indigenous Americans. But "Mockingbird" with a story for the ages and superb writing is deserving of a re-read despite its significant negatives. I knew so little of Poe. I thought all he wrote was horror. There's enough here to go around. "The Black Cat", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Cask of Amontillado", and "The Pit and the Pendulum" will remain in your conscience forever. Yet there's humour too. "Diddling" and "The Balloon-Hoax." That last one has to be the best original scientific thinking in fiction until Jules Verne came along decades later. The Dupin mysteries are good too. The biggest drawback? At times Poe gets carried away with demonstrations of his learning to the detriment of the story. I read the 1960 edition with an afterword by R.P. Blackmur. Go for it! (January 2021)
October 19, 2023
Finished this collection and now I’m ready for the annual Mike Flanagan frightfest.
I’ve read most of these stories many times through the years, but this was only my second read of the title story. First-time reads:
The Balloon-Hoax: About a transatlantic hot-air balloon voyage — or was it? Thought to have inspired Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Descent into the Maelstrom: A fisherman’s boat is caught in a deadly whirlpool off the coast of Norway and he must use his seafaring knowledge and quick thinking to try to save himself. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Cask of Amontillado: I may have read this one decades ago, but I know I’ve seen it in a Vincent Price movie. A man is led into the catacombs under the guise of sampling a rare wine — and soon finds himself trapped behind a brick wall by his vengeful captor. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m officially ready for Episode 1 of The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, which is based on many tales by Poe.
I’ve read most of these stories many times through the years, but this was only my second read of the title story. First-time reads:
The Balloon-Hoax: About a transatlantic hot-air balloon voyage — or was it? Thought to have inspired Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Descent into the Maelstrom: A fisherman’s boat is caught in a deadly whirlpool off the coast of Norway and he must use his seafaring knowledge and quick thinking to try to save himself. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Cask of Amontillado: I may have read this one decades ago, but I know I’ve seen it in a Vincent Price movie. A man is led into the catacombs under the guise of sampling a rare wine — and soon finds himself trapped behind a brick wall by his vengeful captor. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m officially ready for Episode 1 of The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix, which is based on many tales by Poe.
January 11, 2025
This re-read left me more confused than when I first read it decades ago in high-school🧚♀️🙋🏼.
August 19, 2023
The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, then included in the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. The short story, a work of Gothic fiction, includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities. I'm not sure how I got reading so many short stories lately, but I did, hopefully I'll soon be through them all. The ones right in front of me that is. Poe is supposedly the first American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. He wasn't very good at it, earning money I mean, not writing. He was always writing, he just never got rich doing it. His first book was a 40 page collection of poetry and only 50 copies were printed, I have no idea if he sold them all. Finally, publishing his poem The Raven appearing in the Evening Mirror became a popular sensation. He received $9 for its publication. He has to start managing his money better. In 1836 he married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, which is really, really strange. She died in 1847, poor girl. He waited until 1849 to die when he was only 40, which is a lot older than his wife got to. He died under "mysterious circumstances". I didn't know that. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found semiconscious in Baltimore, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker, who found him. He was taken to the Washington Medical College, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849. Poe was not coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and why he was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. His attending physician said that Poe's final words were, "Lord help my poor soul". Poor guy.
But back to the House of Usher and the people living in it. Our unnamed narrator is invited to this house by his friend Roderick Usher. Roderick is there to cheer his friend up, he has been weak and depressed. The friend without a name finds Roderick a hypochondriac, suffering with "nervous agitation". So does his sister Madeline. Hopefully he can help them since they are the last of the Usher line.
When he arrives he notices a thin crack extending from the roof, down the front of the house and into the lake. I can hardly imagine this. Maybe it is sitting on top of a likely spot for an earthquake, or one of Pennsylvania's roads.
Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.
The narrator tries to cheer Roderick up by reading to him and listening to his music. Roderick tells the narrator he believes the house is alive. In that case I think the house should fix the crack and get off the one in the ground.
He entered, at some length, into what he conceived to be the nature of his malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy—a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as he detailed them, interested and bewildered me; although, perhaps, the terms and the general manner of the narration had their weight. He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.
And what is the matter with his sister?
“Her decease,” he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, “would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers.” While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread; and yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of stupor oppressed me as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother; but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears.
The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bed; but on the closing in of the evening of my arrival at the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer; and I learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus probably be the last I should obtain—that the lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more.
And now Madeline dies and our narrator helps her brother put the body in a temporary entombment. Only the two of them bore it to its rest, the vault in which they placed he was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light, lying deep beneath the building. A door of massive iron had been added and its immense weight caused a sharp sound when it moved. Sounds lovely. And then his friend begins to change, and not for the better. A sister lying dead beneath the house, a man with a nervous condition, a house with a large crack, what more could you want? Happy reading.
But back to the House of Usher and the people living in it. Our unnamed narrator is invited to this house by his friend Roderick Usher. Roderick is there to cheer his friend up, he has been weak and depressed. The friend without a name finds Roderick a hypochondriac, suffering with "nervous agitation". So does his sister Madeline. Hopefully he can help them since they are the last of the Usher line.
When he arrives he notices a thin crack extending from the roof, down the front of the house and into the lake. I can hardly imagine this. Maybe it is sitting on top of a likely spot for an earthquake, or one of Pennsylvania's roads.
Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.
The narrator tries to cheer Roderick up by reading to him and listening to his music. Roderick tells the narrator he believes the house is alive. In that case I think the house should fix the crack and get off the one in the ground.
He entered, at some length, into what he conceived to be the nature of his malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy—a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as he detailed them, interested and bewildered me; although, perhaps, the terms and the general manner of the narration had their weight. He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.
And what is the matter with his sister?
“Her decease,” he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, “would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers.” While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread; and yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of stupor oppressed me as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother; but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears.
The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bed; but on the closing in of the evening of my arrival at the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer; and I learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus probably be the last I should obtain—that the lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more.
And now Madeline dies and our narrator helps her brother put the body in a temporary entombment. Only the two of them bore it to its rest, the vault in which they placed he was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light, lying deep beneath the building. A door of massive iron had been added and its immense weight caused a sharp sound when it moved. Sounds lovely. And then his friend begins to change, and not for the better. A sister lying dead beneath the house, a man with a nervous condition, a house with a large crack, what more could you want? Happy reading.
October 12, 2009
This is my favorite of all Poe's stories. (Which considering my love for him, was not an easy choice to make.) I have read it several times over, numerous times out-loud and in scary voices to entertain my little brother :). It's incredible how Poe can write in this helter skelter fashion so that you really don't know exactly what's going on-- and then in one final paragraph, or even the final sentence, he brings it all together and has you so thoroughly creeped out and simultaneously blown your mind, you need to go back and re-read it immediately. He was an opium induced genius and no one can ever compare to his rhythmic, sing-song, and deliriously fluid writing.
September 16, 2024
Ông tổ của truyện kinh dị không làm tôi thất vọng.
Đặc điểm của Poe là không khí Gothic, ý tưởng tốt, tập trung vào tâm lý. Truyện của Poe giàu hình ảnh, tạo ra những biểu tượng mà giờ văn hoá đại chúng vẫn sử dụng.
Poe sẽ không tả 1 cánh giết người moi móc tim gan máu me đến mức nào, mà Poe sẽ tả âm thanh tim đập bình bịch, khiến cho tên giết người ám ánh, đi tìm xem âm thanh đó phát ra từ đâu, rồi phát điên 👍
Cuốn này hợp với người thích văn học, hơn là người thích kinh dị, giật gân, máu me đồ.
À, dịch đỉnh nha, giữ được sự bay bổng đầy chất thơ của Poe 🫶
Đặc điểm của Poe là không khí Gothic, ý tưởng tốt, tập trung vào tâm lý. Truyện của Poe giàu hình ảnh, tạo ra những biểu tượng mà giờ văn hoá đại chúng vẫn sử dụng.
Poe sẽ không tả 1 cánh giết người moi móc tim gan máu me đến mức nào, mà Poe sẽ tả âm thanh tim đập bình bịch, khiến cho tên giết người ám ánh, đi tìm xem âm thanh đó phát ra từ đâu, rồi phát điên 👍
Cuốn này hợp với người thích văn học, hơn là người thích kinh dị, giật gân, máu me đồ.
À, dịch đỉnh nha, giữ được sự bay bổng đầy chất thơ của Poe 🫶
Want to read
December 21, 2020edgar allan poe:
me: nice ghost quartet reference
me: nice ghost quartet reference
April 18, 2018
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
Intriguing storyline, beautiful writing style and a great plot twist! I have nothing else to add- I love Poe’s stories!
Intriguing storyline, beautiful writing style and a great plot twist! I have nothing else to add- I love Poe’s stories!
da-sfogliare-e-consultare
January 5, 2019http://youtu.be/dee3RSgUWiM
Un giorno, se io non andrò sempre fuggendo di gente in gente, mi vedrete seduto a meditare il mio film sul crollo della casa Usher di Poe. Ho già in mente la colonna sonora, “Blackout” dei Muse, la mia preferita, con quegli archi maestosi in minore e quel lamento funebre che è la voce di Bellamy… peccato si siano venduti a Twilight, e questo, forse, rovinerà un po’ la mia ambizione e reputazione. Quando la chitarra partirà all’impazzata con la distorsione in crescendo (“avvertii con precisione un rumore metallico, profondo, sonoro, come soffocato”) farò sorgere dalla tomba morta ma ancora in vita lady Madeleine, così si apriranno i battenti d’antico ebano, conseguenza d’una furibonda ventata, e lei alta figura verrà avanti, avvolta nel suo sudario impregnato del sangue del suo atroce combattimento, una luce livida riempirà la cornice dello schermo, qualcuno si alzerà all'improvviso per non sprofondare definitivamente, ricordandosi di Baudelaire, nelle poltrone come fossero tombe.
Un giorno, se io non andrò sempre fuggendo di gente in gente, mi vedrete seduto a meditare il mio film sul crollo della casa Usher di Poe. Ho già in mente la colonna sonora, “Blackout” dei Muse, la mia preferita, con quegli archi maestosi in minore e quel lamento funebre che è la voce di Bellamy… peccato si siano venduti a Twilight, e questo, forse, rovinerà un po’ la mia ambizione e reputazione. Quando la chitarra partirà all’impazzata con la distorsione in crescendo (“avvertii con precisione un rumore metallico, profondo, sonoro, come soffocato”) farò sorgere dalla tomba morta ma ancora in vita lady Madeleine, così si apriranno i battenti d’antico ebano, conseguenza d’una furibonda ventata, e lei alta figura verrà avanti, avvolta nel suo sudario impregnato del sangue del suo atroce combattimento, una luce livida riempirà la cornice dello schermo, qualcuno si alzerà all'improvviso per non sprofondare definitivamente, ricordandosi di Baudelaire, nelle poltrone come fossero tombe.
October 7, 2011
This story will absolutely freak you out. Of course, you should expect that from the greatest suspense writer of all time.
December 23, 2024
I struggled through half of this, keeping in mind that the other half is a single story, and the thought of going through a 200-page novel by Poe fills me with more terror than any of his stories could have. His writing is far too flowery and dense; such literary obfuscation is not for me. I still don't know what "The Fall of the House of Usher" was about. I understand what happened in it (I think) but I don't see what makes it a story. "The Black Cat" is horrible. I enjoyed the detective stories and maybe a couple others were alright. Many of them were impenetrable and confusing to the point that I didn't even know what I was reading.
August 31, 2022
"Y las tinieblas, y la corrupción, y la Muerte Roja lo dominaron todo."
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