The Fall of the House of Usher

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story in the horror genre written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839, and included in a collection of his stories entitled Tales of the Grotesque and of the Arabesque, published the same year.

Related Topics:
Horror - Edgar Allan Poe - 1839

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In the story the narrator describes his visit to the depressing and decaying home of his friend Roderick Usher, where he finds his friend and his friend's sister (briefly referred to) in a similar and puzzling state of decay. The title thus refers to both the Usher family and the physical structure as being the "House of Usher."

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In the story, the narrator falls in love with the sickly Madeline much to Roderick's horrror. As Rodderick reveals, the Usher family has a history of evil and cruelty so great, that Rodderick and Maddeline pledged in their youth to never have children and to allow their family to die with them. When Maddeline falls into a deathlike slumber, her brother rushes to have her placed in the family crypt. When she wakes up, Madeline goes insane from being buries alive and breaks free through insanity induced strength. She confronts her brother only to fall dead at his feet. Suddenly the house begins to collapse and the narrator flees as Roderick is killed by the falling house.

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L. Sprague de Camp, in his Lovecraft: A Biography , wrote that "ccording to the late Thomas O. Mabbott, Lovecraft, in 'Supernatural Horror,' solved a problem in the interpretation of Poe" by arguing that "Roderick Usher, his sister Madeline, and the house all shared one common soul".

Related Topics:
L. Sprague de Camp - Thomas O. Mabbott - Lovecraft - Supernatural Horror - Soul

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The story is also an interesting example of story within a story, where the reading of a fictitious "Mad Trist" by a "Sir Launcelot Canning" has a mystical influence on the happenings of the outer story.

Related Topics:
Story within a story - Mad Trist

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Themes similar to this were echoed in Stephen King's The Shining and Rose Red.

Related Topics:
Stephen King - The Shining - Rose Red

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Other writers have claimed that themes of incest and vampirism are suggested in the work.

Related Topics:
Incest - Vampirism

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Czech surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer made a movie based on this story.

Related Topics:
Czech - Surrealist - Animator - Jan Svankmajer - Movie

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Peter Hammill composed and recorded a opera based on the story.

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The Alan Parsons Project included an instrumental with the same name on Tales of Mystery and Imagination, an album of songs based on short stories by Poe.

Related Topics:
The Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination

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