The Fall of the House of Usher

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe.

The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for his help. As he arrives, the narrator notes a thin crack extending from the roof, down the front of the building and into the adjacent lake.

The short story, a work of Gothic fiction, includes themes of Madness, Family, Isolation and Metaphysical identities.