A Critical Essay on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)

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The twenty first century author Alexandra Iftodi Zamfir (1986- ) argues that “architecture and settings are more important in Gothic fiction than in any other type of literature…all architectural elements are closely connected with Gothic protagonists and the plot.” (Zamfir. 2011: 15). This critical essay will first consider and analyse this statement and investigate the style, language and form of the American author Edgar Allan Poe’s (1809-1849) macabre and Gothic fictional prose The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) (Poe. 1987: 1). I shall present and argue how the artistic effects deployed in the narrative structure create an atmosphere of tension and suspense, through the exploration of architectural space demonstrated in a close reading and analysis from key passages of the text.

The Fall of the House of Usher was written by the American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, it first featured as a Gothic short story in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in (1839) (Hayes. 2002: xvii). Poe was writing at a time of immense change to social, economic and cultural conditions following the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850), his work on The Fall of the House of Usher could be said to show an impact of Western society’s internal and external fragmentation. (Montagna: 2006).

As stated by Zamfir “the universe portrayed in the House of Usher is Poe’s most sublime…in humanizing a dwelling to portray the inner self of the Gothic hero, but it also represents an investigation of the self in a state of disintegration.” (Zamfir. 2011: 62). This process of disintegration is both reflected within the architectural structure of the house itself; as the building gradually corrodes, in addition to that of the ps...

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..._of_Space_in_Gothic_Architecture. [Accessed 11th May 2012]

Giordano, R. (2005-2011) Poestories.com: An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. [On-line] Available from: http://www.poestories.com/. [Accessed 24th September 2011]

Gunn, A.G. (1997-2002) Cyclopaedia of Ghost Story Writers. [On-line] Available from: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~agg/ghosts/#poeea. [Accessed 24th September 2011]

Hallqvist, C. (2001) The Poe Decoder. [On-line] Available from: http://www.poedecoder.com/. [Accessed 24th September 2011]

Montagna, J.A. (2006) The Industrial Revolution. [On-line] Available from: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html. [Accessed 11th May 2012]

Pridmore, J. (1998-2011) Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). [On-line] Available from: http://www.literaryhistory.com/19thC/Poe.htm. [Accessed 24th September 2011]

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