Abstract

This article examines the representation of HIV/AIDS in Nigerian fiction. Despite the scourge of the disease in Nigeria, the most prominent fictional titles have tended to be silent on the subject. Depictions of the disease appear in fiction published and circulated chiefly within the confines of the country. This article focuses on Felix N. Ogoanah's The Return of Ameze (2007, Ibadan: Evans Brothers) and Ifeoma Theodore Jnr, E.'s Trapped in Oblivion (2014, Lagos: KEE). Reading the novels as young adult fiction, it argues that they partake in the figuration of HIV/AIDS as a disease that animates the binary of innocence and guilt. Going beyond the typical apportioning of blame across dichotomous gender lines, Ogoanah's and Theodore Jnr, E's works call attention to the culpability of adults in rendering adolescents vulnerable to the disease. HIV/AIDS appears as a variable in the increasingly complex world within which adolescents define themselves. This is a world where norms and values are in flux and, depending on how the transition to adulthood is negotiated, HIV/AIDS in the texts becomes a death sentence, a warning, or a life-altering interruption in an already chaotic process of self-definition.

摘要

本文探讨了尼日利亚小说中艾滋病毒/艾滋病的代表性。尽管在尼日利亚遭受了这种疾病的祸害，但最著名的小说标题却对这一话题保持沉默。这种疾病的描述主要出现在该国范围内出版和发行的小说中。本文的重点是费利克斯·奥古阿娜（Felix N. Ogoanah）的《阿梅兹的归来》（2007，伊巴丹：伊万斯兄弟）和伊费玛·西奥多·恩纳（Efeoma Theodore Jnr），《被困在遗忘之中》（2014年，拉各斯：KEE）。它把这些小说看成是年轻的成人小说，认为它们参与了艾滋病毒/艾滋病的塑造，这种疾病使无罪和内的二元动画化。E的作品超越了Ogoanah's和Theodore Jnr的二分法性别界限的典型分配，E的作品呼吁关注成年人在使青少年易患该疾病方面的罪魁祸首。在日益复杂的青少年定义自己的世界中，艾滋病毒/艾滋病似乎是一个变量。在这个世界中，规范和价值观不断变化，根据向成人过渡的谈判方式，文本中的艾滋病毒/艾滋病在已经混乱的自我过程中变成死刑，警告或改变生命的中断-定义。