X-ray

Nicole Lobdell is Assistant Professor of English at DePauw University, USA. She is the author of Bithia Mary Croker: Short Stories (forthcoming) and co-editor, with Nancee Reeves, of H. G. Wells’s The Invisible Man (2018).

• List of Figures1. Discovery 2. Mania 3. Vision 4. Exposure 5. Foreign Bodies6. You x MeAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Nicole Lobdell’s X-Ray delightfully turns the table on Dr. Roentgen’s magical rays, revealing all. Fittingly, we are shown a hidden truth that was in front of us the entire time: the X-ray is not simply a marvel of science, medicine, and technology—it has shaped our art, language, politics, and culture. Through flowing prose and extensive research, X-Ray exposes the invisible rays’ larger impact on man (and Superman), inviting us to confront a thing that is mysterious and objective, a source of healing and harm, and a giver of insights into bodies foreign and familiar. Lobdell’s narrative delivers a brand new perspective—with none of the radiation.