Abstract
Brazilian literature does not have an observable "school" of horror literature, which is the name used for describing texts that seek to stoke fear in readers. There are few authors who would fit that description, the most common example would be Noite na taverna by Álvares de Azevedo. In this article, we intend to demonstrate that fear is used in the story "Sem olhos" by Machado de Assis, and is inextricably linked to its structure. With this in mind, we present various interpretations on how this feeling participates in the construction of the narrative to consequently discuss: the use of fear as a social control; the physical reactions it produces; fear as aesthetic pleasure; and the reversal of the common fears associated to the narrative spaces of the countryside and the city.
Fear; social control; aesthetic pleasure; Machado de Assis