NATCHITOCHES – Dr. Nicole Lobdell, assistant professor of English in the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University, has been selected for a summer fellowship at the University of Oxford, England, where she will research early biographies on the life of the English writer Mary Shelley (1797-1851), best known for the novel “Frankenstein.”
“The life of Mary Shelley has always held a bit of mystery and intrigue, so I’m hoping that my research will reveal new information and illuminate the role that biography has played in our interpretations of her life and work,” Lobdell said.
Lobdell received a Huntington Oxford Exchange Fellowship administered jointly by the Huntington Library in California and the University of Oxford.
“These are competitive research fellowships that provide airfare and a month’s residency at a college that is part the University of Oxford,” Lobdell said. “I will be hosted by Lincoln College at Oxford for the month of July while I am doing research at the Bodleian Library, which is the University of Oxford’s main library.”
According to Lobdell, the first biography of Shelley is a bit of a mystery, written by American author Helen Moore and published in 1886.
“Some of the information Moore includes in the biography was not public knowledge at the time. So, how did she know? I am going to look at the archives of Mary Shelley’s son and daughter-in-law to see if there are letters or other communications between Helen Moore and the Shelley family that would explain how Moore obtained her information,” she said. “I also find it unusual that the first biography of a major British woman writer would be written by an American writer who it appears never wrote anything else.”
Lobdell became interested in Mary Shelley in high school after reading “Frankenstein” for the first time.
“In graduate school at the University of Georgia, I had the opportunity to read her other novels and short stories and learn more about her life, especially the challenges she faced as a woman writer in the early 19th century,” Lobdell said. “I have researched Mary Shelley previously and published on her short stories. I also put together a journal issue for Science Fiction Studies in 2018 celebrating the 200th anniversary of “Frankenstein.” This journal issue looked at the legacy of the novel and why it remains so popular today.”
Lobdell has been to England several times, mainly for research. London and Oxford are two of her favorite cities to visit
“When I was in graduate school, I had the opportunity to study at Oxford while I was working on my dissertation. That experience was so important to my development as a scholar because of the mentorship I received from my advisor, Dr. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst. He pushed me to think in new ways about literary research and the biographies of writers, which is precisely what I’m working on now. When I’m in Oxford, I always feel compelled to push myself to think in new ways and take risks with my writing. It’s a magical city that has inspired so many fantastic authors, including JRR Tolkien and Philip Pullman, that it’s hard not to be inspired while there. So, I’m excited to return to a place that is special to me.”
While in London, she is planning to see a couple of plays, including a production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” at the Globe Theater, and visit a favorite museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has the best exhibitions for fashion, design and costume.
“I could spend days there and never get tired of it. In Oxford, in addition to my research, I’m excited to meet up with friends and go for long walks in the meadows that surround the city. There are some really beautiful walks that follow the river extending out from the city center. They go for miles and often end at a cafe or a pub. So there is a reward at the end.”
Lobdell joined the Louisiana Scholars’ College in 2022. She is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia. She teaches a variety of courses on Gothic and Horror literature, science fiction, women writers and literature and medicine. She is the author of “X-RAY,” which will be published by Bloomsbury in July 2024, and looks at the influence of X-rays on popular culture from books and movies to art and music. Her current book project is titled “Stranger Than Fiction: The Biographies of Mary Shelley.”
“I am grateful to the Huntington Library and Lincoln College at Oxford for supporting my research, and I am excited about what the archives will reveal to me this summer,” she said.
