The Fall of the House of Usher: A Big Read Documentary
Series: The Big Read
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Length: 00:27:34
Few writers have pioneered so many forms of escapism as Edgar Allan Poe, and fewer still have sought escape so desperately themselves. Poe’s claustrophobic life consisted of one escape attempt after another, most of them unsuccessful. Again and again he dodged poverty through overwork, but never for long. He fled loneliness into an ill-fated, loving but likely chaste marriage to a frail cousin. And drink promised an oblivion that kept luring him back, with increasingly destructive consequences.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Few writers have pioneered so many forms of escapism as Edgar Allan Poe, and fewer still have sought escape so desperately themselves. Poe’s claustrophobic life consisted of one escape attempt after another, most of them unsuccessful. Again and again he dodged poverty through overwork, but never for long. He fled loneliness into an ill-fated, loving but likely chaste marriage to a frail cousin. And drink promised an oblivion that kept luring him back, with increasingly destructive consequences.
Transcript
The Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Radio Show - Transcript
Josephine Reed: Now, The Big Read.
Charles Keating reads from "The Fall of the House of Usher"
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
Reed: That was Charles Keating reading from Edgar Allan Poe's haunting gothic tale, "The Fall of the House of Usher.” Welcome to The Big Read, a program created by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I'm Josephine Reed. The Big Read is a program designed to unite communities through great literature. And here's your host, poet and former chair of the NEA, Dana Gioia.
Dana Gioia: It's nice...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original music | Philip Brunelle | 00:00 | |||
| String Quartet No. 1: Vivo | Cuarteto Latinoamericano (performs Silvestre Revueltas) | String Quartets Nos. 1-4. | New Albion Records | 1994 | 00:00 |
| String Quartet No. 3: Minsterio y fantástic | Cuarteto Latinoamericano (performs Silvestre Revueltas) | String Quartets Nos. 1-4. | New Albion Records | 1994 | 00:00 |
| String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131: Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo | The Kodály Quartet (Beethoven) | Complete String Quartets Volume 9. | Naxos of America | 1999 | 00:00 |
| Pictures at an Exhibition | Jeno Jandó (Mussorgsky) | Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey . | Naxos of America | 1998 | 00:00 |
| On the Southern Shore of the Crimea | Jeno Jando (Mussorgsky) | Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey. | Naxos of America | 1998 | 00:00 |
| Una larme | Jeno Jando (Mussorgsky) | Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey. | Naxos of America | 1998 | 00:00 |
| The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 | The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Enrique Bátiz (Rachmaninov) | Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances; The Isle of the Dead. | Naxos of America | 1992 | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
Written and produced by Dan Stone. Executive producer, Josephine Reed.
Assistant producers: Liz Mehaffey and Pepper Smith
Music licensed by Adam Kampe.
Excerpts from Silvestre Revueltas's String Quartet No. 1: Vivo and String Quartet No. 3: Minsterio y fantástico, performed by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano and feature on the album String Quartets Nos. 1-4 (1994), used courtesy of New Albion Records and used by permission of Southern Music Pub. Company (ASCAP).
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