What is unique, however, about Poe's influence, as about the "magic" of his verse, is the extent to which its action is unaccountably insidious, exceeding the control, the will, and the awareness of those who are subjected to it.(1) Felman's statement echoes early criticism of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," which often focuses on the reliability of the narrator--in particular, whether he contracts Roderick Usher's hysterical
phobophobia and whether he, like the critic, perceives Usher's submerged incestuous desire for Madeline.