The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings

Now published in the Penguin Clothbound Classics series, this selection of Poe''s critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates his intense interest in aesthetic issues, and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' is a slow-burning Gothic horror, describing the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', a murderer''s insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as ''The Pit and the Pendulum'', ''The Raven'' and ''The Cask of Amontillado'' explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate. As well as his remarkable literary output, Boston-born Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) had a variety of occupations - he served in the US army and was a magazine editor. Towards the end of his life, he was plagued by mental instability. If you enjoyed The Fall of the House of Usher, you might like Horace Walpole''s The Castle of Otranto, also available in Penguin Classics. ''The most original genius that America has produced'' Alfred, Lord Tennyson ''Poe has entered our popular consciousness as no other American writer'' The New York Times Book Review

Product details

• Authors: Coralie Bickford-Smith, David Galloway, Harland Miller, Edgar Allan Poe
• Assisted by: Miller Harland (Illustration), Peter Ackroyd (Editor), Galloway David (Introduction)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 07.08.2025
• EAN: 9780241739846
• ISBN: 978-0-241-73984-6
• No. of pages: 560
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 204 mm x 40 mm
• Series: Penguin Clothbound Classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Short Stories (single author), FICTION / Classics, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Gothic, Short Stories, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, FICTION / Horror, POETRY / American / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / American / General, FICTION / Gothic, LITERARY CRITICISM / Short Stories, American English, Anthologies: general, Anthologies (non-poetry), Classic fiction: general and literary