THE FALL OF THE USHER'S HOUSE Edgar Allan Poe USA 1839

Category : Fantastic Landscape : A house and a pond, as glaucous as possible, which exude Death and desolation, by some very black night… The story : An honest man – as it was said in the Poe era – pays a visit to an ill relative, whose sister is ill, too. She dies during the visit of our man. One night , whereas our visitor make the reading to the illman ( a scary story, of course… I wonder why ???? ), some strange noises are heard….It is the so called “dead girl”, which is not dead at all and who succeeded in escaping from her coffin….The moment after, the illman and the visitor are hearing some scratches at the door …..and the sister appears in the doorway, hands full of blood….. The visitor runs out of the house, scared to death. When he looks back, he notices a growing crack which cross the house from bottom to the top, and the structure fells down in the lake… Topics : - Diagnoses mistakes about the death of a human ???? Maybe, because at that period, the medical knowledge was less developed than nowadays…. It may have been a confusion between real death and a coma state …. - The Death being the worst fear for the human beings Comments : The writing, very dark, reminds me a little bit Lovecraft : Deliciously antique, succeeding in creating a discomfort sensation for the reader, by this so tense atmosphere…. This text is a very short story, but very outstanding….She produce a strong effect on the reader, even after the reading… Poe always said that his ultimate goal by writing was to give sensations to the reader…well, well done, Edgar !!!! Advisory : You should’t read this story if you are alone at home during a storm…