1. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
It is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and one of Poe’s most famous short stories. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man whom the narrator insists has a “vulture eye”. The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by dismembering it and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator’s guilt manifests itself in the hallucination that the man’s heart is still beating under the floorboards.
2. The Human Stain by Philip Roth
It is set in late 1990s rural New England. The story is told by Nathan Zuckerman, a writer who lives a secluded life where Coleman Silk is his neighbor. Silk is a classics professor in Massachusetts. At 71, Silk is unjustly accused of racism by two black students. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Coleman Silk is an African-American man who had been presenting himself as a Jewish man.