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The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
The eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe remain among the most brilliant and influential works in American literature. Some of the celebrated tales contained in this unique volume include: the world's first two detective stories -- "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined Letter"; and three stories sure to make a reader's hair stand on end -- "...more
Mass Market Paperbound, 400 pages
Published
April 1st 1998
by Signet Classics
(first published 1967)
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I had to analyze this story for and English paper and the first time I read it I had no idea how to analyze such a crazy story!!! But then it hit me about the crazy connections between the house and the family...it was almost like the house was alive and the family's "life" was connected with the house. When the house "died" the family died with it and vice versa. Even in reading the descriptions of house made it seem like the house had some sort of face. It was a very intere...more
Reading this whole book really expanded my conception of Poe. First of all, the introduction was interesting in that it downplayed the things you usually hear about Poe (married his young cousin, was an alcoholic, etc).
As for the guts of the book went, I have to say I suffered through most of the poetry, but the tales were great. Who knew that Poe basically invented the detective story? His are great! And the "Gold Bug" is such a fun story. (I remember reading it as a kid,...more
As for the guts of the book went, I have to say I suffered through most of the poetry, but the tales were great. Who knew that Poe basically invented the detective story? His are great! And the "Gold Bug" is such a fun story. (I remember reading it as a kid,...more
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 suspen...more
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 suspen...more
1839 erschien „Der Untergang des Hauses Usher“ als Kurzgeschichte von Edgar Allan Poe in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. Seitdem dürfte sie wohl zu einer der meistverfilmten und am öftesten umgesetzten Horrorgeschichten zählen. Jeder hat diese Geschichte in der einen oder anderen Art schon einmal gelesen, gehört oder gesehen. Mir geht es nicht anders. Ich habe diverse Hörbücher gehört und mehrere Verfilmungen gesehen und bisher konnte ich nie verstehen, warum diese Geschichte schauerlich sein sol...more
Poe was most deffinitly a master of the english language. Even his stories are written as though meant to be poetry. What I love most about The Fall of the House of Usher is the imagery. Poe takes so much time to describe the extrerior and the interior of the house, not just how it looks but how it feels. And how he describes Usher himself, how he is slowly decaying and wilting into mostly a madman. I read this story in middle school at some point, but reading it again now that I'm older is a lo...more
This book is a collection of Poe’s short stories and his only full length novel. I have read Poe’s poetry before but this was my first time with his stories. Most of the titles are recognizable from pop culture or movies made about them. The groundbreaking first detective stories were in this collection as well. Reading these spooky old stories reminded me what horror can be. The stories leave out the gory descriptions and keep the reader guessing. The story was actually the focus rather than th...more
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...more
I think this book is amazing. I love the Black Cat most, since it's mysterious cat causes the death of a man, who murdered his wife. It's amazing.
Edgar is a genius. He's amazing, and I learn new words from his tales, such as Stupified,Vex, Malevolent, Din and Wane.
I love his tales. They're awesome. Just after reading one chapter, he'll pull you into the story, and it goes through your mind, and makes you feel like 'Oh my gods/Oh my Ra/Oh my god, this is so amazing. I want...more
Edgar is a genius. He's amazing, and I learn new words from his tales, such as Stupified,Vex, Malevolent, Din and Wane.
I love his tales. They're awesome. Just after reading one chapter, he'll pull you into the story, and it goes through your mind, and makes you feel like 'Oh my gods/Oh my Ra/Oh my god, this is so amazing. I want...more
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 ...more
Especially when you're reading this story by ...more
I go through phases where I think Poe was the greatest writer that ever lived. They usually pass in 2-3 weeks or so, once I've had time to read and re-read his best stuff and be appalled by his worst. For the most part, this collection sticks to the best. There's not much of it. 200 pages would probably do it. Maybe 12 stories, some poems ('The Raven', 'Annabel Lee'). But page for page I don't think anything exceeds the beauty, craftsmanship, and visionary intensity of 'MS Found in a Bottle', 'T...more
Well, that was a long, hard slog through a broad range of fiction, but it's finally over. And with it, I'm proud to say, I've completed my stack of classic fiction from the Great Writers Library! Thenk yew, thenk yew.
This book is probably the first time I've read Poe since high school (aside from occasionally running into The Raven). I saved it until last in this stack of books I've been reading, because I expected to really enjoy it. I was disappointed. Poe's painfully purple style and las...more
This book is probably the first time I've read Poe since high school (aside from occasionally running into The Raven). I saved it until last in this stack of books I've been reading, because I expected to really enjoy it. I was disappointed. Poe's painfully purple style and las...more
I had an old selection of Poe's masterpieces, but this present edition is a wider collection of his works. I have already read almost everything presented in this volume, both during high school, university and even later on in my life.
I adore Poe because he is one of the few writers who is really able to scare the hell out of me in just three or four words.
The Tell-Tale Heart<i/> and <The Murders of the Rue Morgue were the first two stories of Poe's I've read (I was about ...more
I adore Poe because he is one of the few writers who is really able to scare the hell out of me in just three or four words.
The Tell-Tale Heart<i/> and <The Murders of the Rue Morgue were the first two stories of Poe's I've read (I was about ...more
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 br...more
I read most of these stories in anthologies in middle school, but revisiting them, I found myself trapped in Poe's imaginative grip. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" "The Pit and the Pendulum" "The Masque of the Red Death" "The Tell-Tale Heart" "The Fall of the House of Usher" Don't the titles themselves plunge you into terrible remembrance?
From "The Black Cat": "Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committ...more
From "The Black Cat": "Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committ...more
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"From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring ... "
—Edgar Allan Poe, "Alone"
I wonder what percentage of those who cheer for the Baltimore Ravens football team realize that they are supporting the only major North American sports franchise whose name is derived from a a great work of literature. I'm guessing it would be pretty low.
Reading this book,...more
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring ... "
—Edgar Allan Poe, "Alone"
I wonder what percentage of those who cheer for the Baltimore Ravens football team realize that they are supporting the only major North American sports franchise whose name is derived from a a great work of literature. I'm guessing it would be pretty low.
Reading this book,...more
In The Fall of the House of Usher, we know that the narrator receives a letter from an intimate childhood friend, Roderick Usher. Roderick writes that he is emotionally and physically ill ushering the narrator to visit. During his travel the narrator informs us of the singular incestuous nature of the Usher family. Only one member has survived from generation to generation. Once inside the narrator discovers Roderick has a sister and when they temporarily bury her he sees that she is his twin! T...more
A compilation of Poe's most famous work. This text features short stories, poetry, literary criticism, philosophy, and reviews from the mind of Edgar Allen Poe. Poe's relentless obsession with the macabre and the melancholic impresses itself upon the reader; He is an emissary of a living darkness, bestowing upon death a strange beauty, and at other times, an insurmountable grotesqueness. Poe seems less a madman than a capricious ponderer, exposing the contrary forms of death.
Poe’s gothic tale may be understood as an allegory of identification. The two halves of a split consciousness reuniting, the rational and irrational become one and the same. He blurs boundary between the living and the dead, the line between sanity and madness figures prominently. Connecting the metaphor and instrument of the piece definitely made me rethink the way I would structure my own writing. A fascinating mystery, I recommend.
Edgar Allan Poe is amazing. Having read "The Pit and the Pendulum" after someone recommended it to me, I decided to buy this book and am thoroughly enjoying it.
His poems don't really come to much, except of course for "The Raven", which is a classic and so well-known you don't need me to tell you about it.
The tales are full of his speciality - suspense - in a way that often leaves you breathless. Their length is perfect for their content - any longer ...more
His poems don't really come to much, except of course for "The Raven", which is a classic and so well-known you don't need me to tell you about it.
The tales are full of his speciality - suspense - in a way that often leaves you breathless. Their length is perfect for their content - any longer ...more
Nadie ha sabido adentrarse mejor en las profundas cavernas de la mente y el terror que él. El torturado escritor dejó para la posteridad una colección de cuentos que dejan huella en el recuerdo, que sentaron cátedra en el terror psicológico literario y en la novela policíaca. Te guste o no que te cuenten estas historias, no podrás dejar de leerlas si las empiezas.
Romance by Edgar Allan Poe.
Romance, who loves to nod and sing,
With drowsy head and folded wing,
Among the green leaves as they shake
Far down within some shadowy lake,
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been- a most familiar bird-
Taught me my alphabet to say-
To lisp my very earliest word
While in the wild wood I did lie,
A child- with a most knowing eye.
Of late, eternal Condor years
So shake the very Heaven on high
With...more
Romance, who loves to nod and sing,
With drowsy head and folded wing,
Among the green leaves as they shake
Far down within some shadowy lake,
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been- a most familiar bird-
Taught me my alphabet to say-
To lisp my very earliest word
While in the wild wood I did lie,
A child- with a most knowing eye.
Of late, eternal Condor years
So shake the very Heaven on high
With...more
This collection of short stories was extremely hit and miss with me. "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a worthy story of torture (that I cited in a senior year Western Civilization essay I wrote on the history of torture). "The Tell-Tale Heart" depicts a methodical madman in a way that probably inspired Stephen King. But I just could not get into the others stories.
Filling in another gap in my reading history. The guy tried O. Henry endings but without the benefit of having O. Henry short stories to show him how to do it. That's my biggest complaint. Most stories, when I was coming up to the end, I was thinking "there's only one paragraph left, Edgar - how are you gonna wrap this up? Or are you going to end it with "to be continued"?" But then he'd have some unsatisfying one sentence ender. Pit and the Pendulum is probably the worst off...more
Marco Narajos
rated it
Recommends it for:
he (or she!) who understands "true" literature
Shelves:
classics,
did-not-finish
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I cannot find words to describe this book. He brought into life a new genre of literature and for me he still remains simply the best!
What to praise first in the fall of the house of Usher? The atmosphere that is created through his writting? The originality of the plot or the cinematic suspense experience that the reader has?
What to praise first in the fall of the house of Usher? The atmosphere that is created through his writting? The originality of the plot or the cinematic suspense experience that the reader has?
Poe is, to my taste, the MASTER of the eerie setting and creepy story. Yes, he gets graphic on the gore, sometimes overtly to the point of overkill, but he manages to raise the hair on the back of your neck when you read his work and sometimes you need that frisson of terror to tickle across your senses.
Die Geschichte um Edgar Allan Poe macht auf dieser CD keine weiteren Fortschritte, er erfährt nichts Neues über seine Vergangenheit.
Die Poe Geschichte über den Untergang des Hauses Usher ist in gewisser Weise frei nach Poe. ich höre parallel dazu die Poe Box bei der es sich um ein reines Hörbuch handelt. Zumindest diese Poe Geschichten ist für das Hörspiel ein wenig abgewandelt worden und die Schwerpunkte wurden etwas verschoben. Dennoch immer noch sehr unterhaltsam.
Die Poe Geschichte über den Untergang des Hauses Usher ist in gewisser Weise frei nach Poe. ich höre parallel dazu die Poe Box bei der es sich um ein reines Hörbuch handelt. Zumindest diese Poe Geschichten ist für das Hörspiel ein wenig abgewandelt worden und die Schwerpunkte wurden etwas verschoben. Dennoch immer noch sehr unterhaltsam.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. I'm not the biggest fan of the short story to begin with, and whilst I find Poe's writing to be truly brilliant in parts of this tale, I could not appreciate why this is one of his most famous works. I found it pretty inaccessible.
I love, love, loved this story. It was a little difficult to read at times and I even had to read over a couple sections more than once to fully understand what was going on. But Poe is proving to be one of my favorite writers--I love the twists he throws in at the very last minute!! :)
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The 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 hundr...more
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“Yet mad I am not...and very surely do I not dream.”
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“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.”
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