June 19, 2024

Spectral Spain: Post-Franco Gothic Fiction with Heidi Backes

1 hour 1 minute

Heidi Backes joins Alan to discuss the haunted houses, silent spaces and traumatic memories often seen in post-Franco gothic fiction, such as in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's international bestseller The Shadow of the Wind.' Her new book Spectral Spain looks at how Gothic literature has become a leading genre in contemporary Spain - one capable of confronting the traumatic memories of the country's past.

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Books mentioned in the episode:

Adelaida García Morales: "Aunt Águeda" ("La tía Águeda") and "Elisa's Secret" ("El secreto de Elisa")

Julio Llamazares: "The Yellow Rain" ("La lluvia amarilla")

Ana María Matute: "Uninhabited Paradise" ("Paraíso inhabitado")

Carlos Ruiz Zafón: "Prisoner of Heaven" ("El prisionero del cielo")

More about her book here

Heidi Backes examines haunting as the perfect motif for Spanish authors to portray the tension between modernity and the imposition of a nationalized tradition throughout the twentieth century—noting not just the trauma of the civil war and the resulting dictatorship of Franco, but also the continuing and widespread disenchantment during and after the transition. It is a study of multiple manifestations of individual and collective trauma in texts written after the transition, which will assist readers’ understanding of the relationships between Gothic fear, trauma, and spectrality.

Link to publisher's site https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/spectral-spain/

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