Abstract
This article proposes a reading of the story/novella "The Alienist" taking into consideration the issue of slavery and blackness. First, it discusses the way in which the theme is included or excluded from the works of some of the most renown critics of Machado and, in particular, from their interpretations of the story. Then, it calls attention to passage with two black characters, and associates it with the context of the magazine in which it was published.
Keywords:
Machado de Assis; madness; fashion; slavery; Afro-Brazilian literature