Fear as a Multidimensional Construct in Contemporary Fantasy Fiction

Lauren Roberts' Fearful (2023), drawing on trauma studies, affect theory, Foucauldian power discourse, and narrative identity theory. The analysis shows that fear in the novel operates on two levels simultaneously: as a tool of institutional control and as a catalyst for personal transformation. Roberts moves away from the genre convention of externalizing fear through monsters or antagonists, instead embedding it within her characters' psychology and the social structures of her fictional world. The result is a fantasy novel that engages seriously with questions of power, subjectivity, and identity.