In this season two finale, we explore the spookier side of Christmas with a look at the tradition of telling ghost stories during the holiday season.
We talk to Dr. Seth Lerer about one of the most beloved Christmas goblins, the Grinch, and the darker side of the character and its creator, Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Lerer is a professor of literature at the University of California-San Diego and is author of "Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter." The book has been translated into Spanish and Korean. It is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Prize in Criticism (2009) and the Truman Capote Prize in Literary Criticism (2010).
Plus, writer and creative writing professor Dr. Colin Dickey joins us to discuss the tradition of telling ghost stories during Christmas, a subject he explored extensively for Smithsonian.
And for our pièce de résistance: Krampus!
Arizona indie filmmaker Robert Conway is in studio to discuss his love of the mythical beast which punishes those children who've been naughty. Conway has numerous films to his credit including his latest, "Eminence Hill."
If you have a suggestion for a future show, please email Tom Maxedon. You can hear our entire archive at word.kjzz.org
Thanks for listening and supporting public radio!
