Our weekly program, Missouri State Journal, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and Missouri State University. It's hosted and produced by MSU's Office of Strategic Communication, and it airs each Tuesday morning at 9:45 a.m. on KSMU.
If you were a fan R. L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” series growing up, a Missouri State professor has just the book for you.
Associate professor Dr. Heidi Backes recently published a book on gothic fiction. The title is a mouthful: Spectral Spain: Haunted Houses, Silent Spaces and Traumatic Memories in Post-Franco Gothic Fiction, but Backes promises it will give you those all-too-familiar goosebumps again.
The Spanish literature professor at Missouri State says haunted houses are more than just spooky fun at Halloween. In this case, they’re a commentary on women in Spanish history. Historically, the matriarch is the heart of the home. But Backes says when Spanish women became marginalized under the dictatorship, that home became haunted.
Spectral Spain can be found in the Missouri State library or through online book retailers.
