Inpiration behind Fall of the House of Usher, did he get paid for writing the story? Waht year was it written? It was published in 1839 but in what magazine or book? THANKS

-- Anonymous, November 11, 2002

Answers

The poem predtaed the story by severalmonths. When the story was written in "Burton's" magazine perhaps Poe was figuring out the theme of "The Haunted Palace" added to the theory of correspondence between people, places, destinies, that he expounds in the philosophical exposition. Other stories deal with different aspects of two men, one haunted by the other(William Wilson, Man in the Crowd) so Poe was definitely working something out there, perhaps a la Godwin's "Caleb Williams" with a similar dire duality.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2002