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 HIV/AIDS 的表现。尽管这种疾病在尼日利亚肆虐，但最着名的虚构作品往往对这个主题保持沉默。对这种疾病的描述出现在主要在该国范围内出版和传播的小说中。本文重点关注 Felix N. Ogoanah 的The Return of Ameze (2007, Ibadan: Evans Brothers) 和 Ifeoma Theodore Jnr, E.'s Trapped in Oblivion（2014 年，拉各斯：KEE）。将这些小说作为年轻成人小说阅读，它认为他们参与了将 HIV/AIDS 视为一种疾病，使无辜和内疚的二元性充满活力。E 的作品超越了典型的跨性别分界线、Ogoanah 和 Theodore Jnr 的责任分配，呼吁人们关注成年人在使青少年容易感染这种疾病方面的罪责。在青少年定义自己的日益复杂的世界中，艾滋病毒/艾滋病似乎是一个变量。这是一个规范和价值观不断变化的世界，取决于如何过渡到成年，文本中的艾滋病毒/艾滋病会成为死刑判决、警告或改变本已混乱的自我过程中的生命中断-定义。