To share ideas.

  “And all I loved, I loved alone”…  Edgar Allan Poe is one of the best writers ever! And one of my favourite of course. I’ve chosen exactly his story mostly because of personal attitude. I adore his style of writing. That’s why I had no doubt, that any his story will be masterpiece. Poe was fierce and fearless critic. He called a spade a spade and didn’t worshiped any idols.

   Edgar Allan Poe wrote about the eternal and exotic and neglected topical and dull. One of his favourite themes is  the nature,  which is his source for the difficult to interpret and exquisite symbols - ancient and those he established himself. The Nature is metaphorical to the core and hides subtle shades of secret meaning. He introduced the British horror story, or the Gothic genre, to American literature, along with the detective story, science fiction, and literary criticism.

   One of his horror (or gothic) stories I’ve chosen for my Stylistics’ Final Project. Hope I’ll cope with this task)

  I’ve heard about “The Fall of the House of Usher”, but never read it. I expected the story to be as psychological and chilly as the others. Judging by the title, there should have been some tragedy, connected with family. And I turned to be quite right.

      This semi-fantastic tale about the narrator's last visit to the old mansion of his friend, the strange lady’s  Madeline illness, the more strange mental Usher’s illness, about the secret inner connection between brother and sister, and supernatural communication between home and its inhabitants, of premature burial, the death and, in the end, the fall of the house of Usher to the dark waters of the lake and the escaping narrator, who barely managed to do it in the moment of disaster.

   The action of the story takes place in a surreal, mysterious world, where usual coordinates of time and space and power laws of logic and common sense do not work at all. The plot is built around a terrible disaster, the atmosphere is full of darkness, impasse, and fates of heroes – of grim tragedy.

   “The Fall of the House of Usher” is comparatively short, but BE CAREFUL! – it is deceitful point of view.

     Poe’s usage of the peculiar vocabulary creates a special atmosphere here, though it demands some time to perceive it correctly and consult some additional sources to be sure in every single point.

     Hopefully, you won’t be bored reading these comments. I should end my long speech now. Join the company – read E. A. Poe.