1952, reading from I Am Legend, 1995, Orb, pages 226-60

Mad House is the story of a morning in the life of Chris, a frustrated academic who also has acutely frustrated literary ambitions. The story begins with Chris breaking his pencil, then jamming his type writer, then not even having the presence of mind to shave without fear of injury, and then moves on to reveal that he has been cruelly abusing his wife Sally for years. Mad House is a story about the tortured mind of an unproductive writer whose mind is slithering over the edge of sanity.

This is a nice novelette length piece, taut throughout. Here are a few quotes to wet your appetite:

“…a vapor of bitterness…”

“...resentment creeping…”

“…the moral decrepitude of his own subconscious.”

“Now when I die, I shall only be dead.”

“With words I have knit my shroud and will bury myself therein.”

Don’t read this on a bad day with a bottle of vodka and a revolver.