X-ray

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. * Benjamin Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Medicine (in Surgery), Columbia University, USA, and cartoonist, The New Yorker *Lobdell pens a clear, big picture of a surprisingly many-sided subject. The result is a glowing and penetrating examination of the importance, meaning, and influence of X-rays on not just health but all facets of life. * Journal of Medical Humanities *

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).