Mansion of Gloom: The Unsettling Legacy of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher' by Antony Clayton

Edgar Allan Poe’s atmospheric tale of madness and premature burial has intrigued and disconcerted readers ever since it first appeared in 1839. In the twentieth century it attracted interpretations from all fields of artistic creativity: film, television, theatre, opera, music, literature and art.

There have been over twenty film and television adaptations: European filmmakers, from the aesthete Impressionist Jean Epstein in 1928 to animation wizard Jan Švankmajer, and British directors such as Ken Russell and Ivan Barnett, whose 1946 adaptation was filmed at a Hastings guesthouse, which at the time was the home of notorious occultist Aleister Crowley.

In the twenty-first century the story remains relevant – 2020 saw the release of Lady Usher and in 2023 Intrepid Pictures’ Mike Flanagan produced The Fall of the House of Usher, an eight-part series on Netflix set in the present day US opioid crisis.

Musically it has inspired an unfinished opera by Debussy, an opera by Philip Glass, and concept albums by The Alan Parsons Project, Peter Hammill and Lou Reed. Steven Berkoff has adapted the story for the stage, Ray Bradbury wrote a science fiction story ‘Usher II’ and numerous artists including Arthur Rackham, Harry Clarke, Alastair and Leonor Fini have produced memorable illustrations.

The House of Usher’s fortunes continue to rise.