The Fall of the House of Usher: first published in 1839: Volume 2 (1st. Page Classics)

The short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" opens with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his boyhood friend Roderick Usher. Having received a letter from him complaining of an illness and asking for his help. Roderick's symptoms include hypersensitivity and an excessive preoccupation about having a serious illness.It is revealed that Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, is also ill and falls into death-like trances.Roderick tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in to be sentient, and that this sentience arises from the arrangement of the masonry and vegetation surrounding it ...