The gothic and the fantastic in the short story "Sem olhos", by Machado de Assis

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the presence of the fantastic in Machado de Assis's short story "Sem olhos" (1876), as well as to identify and contextualize the elements of Brazilian Gothic present in the narrative. The work, dated from the late 19th century, offers fertile ground to explore how the fantastic unfolds in the plot and to examine how the described spaces and the behaviors and customs of the characters contribute to the Gothic atmosphere. The adopted methodology aims to elucidate the scenario of the Gothic in Brazil, based on an approach grounded in the theoretical contributions of França (2017), as well as an analysis supported by the studies of Todorov (2017) and Roas (2014) to understand the fantastic element present in the short story. Thus, an introduction regarding the historical and literary contextualization of the Gothic will be carried out, along with an overview of Machado de Assis's life and some of his works that configure into a Brazilian Gothic setting. Subsequently, the elements characterizing the Gothic and the fantastic will be presented, respectively. Finally, the presented theoretical concepts will be applied to the analysis of the work. Consequently, one can argue that the relationship with fear and violence further manifests the Gothic in this Machadian narrative, creating a fertile ground for the development of the fantastic. The employed discursive strategies not only attenuate the fantastic effect of the story but also amplify its supernatural atmosphere.