Fall of the House of Usher

Some of the best horror story writing ever - completely terrifying, and still as gripping now as then.

Do you know, it's funny: just yesterday I picked up this book for the first time in ten years, and already I'm discussing it with a complete stranger. Surely there must be the start of a macabre story in that! The strength of these tales is the psychological understanding Poe seemed to have of people: if you're sceptical about the supernatural elements, you can find solace in the human. However fantastical the events, Poe never closes the door to a psychological explanation. I'm thinking chiefly of stories such as the Tell Tale Heart, of course.

It's the psychological grasp; but also (or maybe it's part of the same thing), the way he hones in on and gradually intensifies archetypal fears. I'm thinking of the Pit and the Pendulum, which on the face of it shouldn't really work because it's such an unlikely scenario. It does because, one by one, he tears down your defences, and pulls you into the epicentre of sheer horror, to the most frightening thing that can happen. I've tried to fathom many times where his true brilliance lies, but it's a bit like pulling apart a car - the individual components are pretty meaningless on their own. The only writer I put in the same bracket is that master-teller of ghost stories, MR James. All of them preposterous if you laid out a three sentence synposis - but completely gripping .

I re-read The Pit and the Pendulum last night (you've got to do it in the dark!) and I think you're right, it gets to the nub of our primal fears. What could possibly be more frightening than the danger you can't see? Of course, the danger you CAN see!