This article presents an overview of the literary exegesis made of the published editions of Malevolent Tales, a compendium of stories with a critical approach to the values and traditional ideologies of Peru at the beginning of the 20th century. It analyzes as well the authorial inclusion of a variant novel of terror, distinguished by the development of decadent elements of romanticism. The adoption of love and its autonomous perception as axes of these tales will be essential for understanding their unusual worldview dominated by evil.