The installation of fear

“By infantilizing us, my dear lady, fear does not diminish us; on the contrary, it elevates us. Fear restores to us the childhood of the world.”

The doorbell rings. The woman hides her child in the bathroom and goes to open the door. What if fear were a service, for the good of the country and progress, delivered to your home? In compliance with the decree-law requiring fear to be installed in every home as quickly as possible, two technicians enter.

Carlos, the talkative one, and Sousa, with a sinister air and a sweet voice, talk about a wide range of subjects, from unemployment to disease and pandemics, from market upheavals and interest rates to violence and terrorism, creating an atmosphere of growing tension.

In a renewed edition, and in his irreverent and biting style, Rui Zink calls upon every reader to recognize the urgency of courage—the kind that guides a mother’s heart.

Rui Zink, born in Lisbon in 1961, is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Portuguese literature. A writer, teacher, and intellectual provocateur, he has created a body of work marked by irony, social criticism, and a rare ability to transform everyday life into revealing absurdity.

In books such as O Destino Turístico, A Instalação do medo, and Hotel Lusitano, he explores the tension between fantasy and reality: humor as a sharp form of thought.