Walls of Words

Nicole Lobdell

100 West Seminary Street Greencastle, IN, 46135 United States

Nicole Lobdell is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English in 19th-century British literature at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.

 

 

X-RAY

Object Lesson Series, Bloomsbury

Illustration of chest X-ray with one broken rib on left side.

X-ray: invisible beam, haunting picture, penetrating gaze, and superhuman power.

X-rays are powerful, moving through objects undetected, revealing the body as a tryptic of skin, tissue, and bone. X-rays gave rise to a transparent world and the belief that transparency conveys truth. It stands to reason then that our relationship with X-rays would be paradoxical: fear and fascination, acceptance and resistance, confusion and curiosity. X-ray reveals the complexity of living in an age that relies on X-rays to expose the hidden threats to our health and national security, but also fears X-rays for the exposure they bring. In five chapters—Discovery, Mania, Vision, Exposure, and Foreign Bodies—I undertake an interdisciplinary exploration of when, where, and how we use X-rays, what meanings we give them, and what metaphors we make out of them. In doing so, I draw from a variety of fields including the art, literature, the history of medicine, science and technology studies, material culture, film, comics, gender studies, architecture, and industrial design.

Forthcoming in Bloomsbury’s Object Lesson Series in 2024! Click here to pre-order.