Customer Reviews

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales (Signet classics)

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I've found this particular edition of Poe's (albiet incomplete) collected works to be the best and most accurate blend possible of his short fiction, poetry, and most important prose. The annotations and background information are also extremely helpful unlike some works that do not translate the Latin, for example. MOST IMPORTANTLY I've found this work to contain the most perfect editions of his poetry, as opposed to other collected works I've owned that have unusual deviances, such as "monody compels" (this ed.) vs "melody compels" of another edition. This has indeed become a faithful companion and my particular copy has become well-worn! I would suggest obtaining as a supplement a seperate edition of Poe's complete short stories and possibly also an edition of his collected prose, although this volume contains his perhaps most important work "The American Drama" anyway. Cheers, hope this helps!

Long before Alfred Hitchcock, Bram Stoker or Arthur Conan Doyle there was Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Born to a Boston actress; married to 13 year old Virginia Clemm and tormented by the demons of the soul this American original is the most popular worldwide American author.
In this excellent Penguin collection the editors have collected his best short stories, poems and essays in a valuable volume.
Among the masterpieces are:
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter featuring the pre-Sherlock Holmes detective skills of Auguste Dupin.
The Fall of the House of Usher in which a gothic mansion mirrors the madness, incest and horror within the soul of its demented owner.
The Pit and the Pendulum an unforgettable tale of the Spanish Inquisition where the suspense is almost tactile in its intensity.
The Masque of the Red Death in which Death is the unexpected visitor at a masqued ball.
The Gold Bug shows Poe's mathematical mind at work as a buried treasure is discovered.
In addition to other tales we find here such great poems as "The Raven"; "The Bells" and "Ligea".
A sample of Poe's literary essays are included. One essays deals with his review of the American theatre; another reviews Hawthorne's "Twice-Told Tales" and the best of the lot details the creative process the poet used to create his 108 line masterpiece "The Raven."
This is a fine edition which could be used in the classroom or for pleasure reading. Enjoy the outre world and lush writing of Edgar Allan Poe!

I got this book as a gift for my Birth Day. I loved Edgar Allan Poe, his writings, poetry, essays, everything. I first heard The Raven in my [...] class, than heard The Cask of Amontillado in my [...] class. I than fully fell-in-love with this Poet! I also went out and picked up Young Edgar Allan Poe, and read it, exploring his life from a small child in beautiful detail to his death. If you haven't read any of Edgar Allan Poe's writings yet, please do so. Now...
At first when you read some of his writings, you get washed away by the old-fashioned literature, to the insanity of his mind (which isn't so, mind you). I had to re-read The Masque of the Red Death twice before I fully comprehended just what happened. I relieved in the story: The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum, struggled through The Bells, read my heart out in The Raven, raced through The Tell-Tale Heart and read curiously at The Man of the Crowd. This is truly the king of horror and insanity at it's best! Drop Stephen King for just a little while and read Poe, you won't regret it!

I bought this illustrated edition of "The Fall of the House of Usher" when I was going to school at Rutgers College in New Jersey back when it was originally released, and I should point out that it only contains that particular short story. The illustrations are good and evocative, and help to enhance the story.

The story itself, of course, is classic Poe and one of his most famous. It's a story about an aristocratic family and the events that befall them. It's a good example of why Poe, who was also a great poet, was such a master of the short story form. He uses the story to produce a build up of unrelenting dread, and the story doesn't let up until its conclusion.

Now, the main thing with this edition is that like any comic book, you are probably going to want to get a copy that's in decent shape. I'd say it's worth taking a chance on at most of the lower priced offerings (it's out of print).

In an ocean of other Poe collections and publications, this collection features a unique and appealing selection of Poe's finest creations. From the eerie mystery of the House of Usher to the questionable Gold Bug, Poe's eerie intellect is evident throughout.

Reading "The Fall of the House of Usher" for the first time it seems quite complicated due to both vocabulary and interpretation. Reading it again you notice how this difficult yet discriptive and varied vocabulary together with his narrative style capture you and set you right there next to the narrator to see what he saw and feel what he felt. The self-realizing prophecy of R.Usher makes you, too, fight with fear, but from a safe distance.

It is a good story. There are a lot of descriptions which clearly shows us the environment in which the story takes place. We liked the way the story was told, the old English Gothic style. We knew from the beginning that something mysterious was to happen, so through the whole story we were exited to find out what happens next and we tried to imagine what would happen. At the end of the story we had a lot of questions; what did really happen? We like the fact that the reader is still working with the text though the story is over.

THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD AND KEPT MY INTEREST THROUGH OUT THE WHOLE TIME I READ IT.