Abstract
Contemporary African environments have degenerated into “Anthropocene horror” due to the impact of petrol, prompting a new literary genre known as petrofiction. Petrofictions analyze petroculture through the imagining of ecocatastrophe and the ensuing trauma. While most literary critics focus on how this genre represents the negative physical and social impacts of petrol, my project takes as its starting point an exploration of the bond between ecology and human consciousness through the identification of ecocatastrophe as a product of African petroculture. Through four (4) African petrofictions - Oil on Water, Yellow Yellow, Transparent City, and How Beautiful We Were, the study comparatively argues that anthropocentric rape of the ecosystem results in narratological construct of temporalities in petrofictions. The construal of temporalities in these texts promotes a new literary term called “eco-psychoconsciousness,” whereby the minds of fictional characters process the sequence of traumatic emotions caused by human and non-human degeneration of the ecosystem. The study adopts Timothy Clark’s ecocritical view to examine ecological grief emanating from petroculture together with Michelle Balaev and Geoffrey Hartman’s psychoanalytical views on trauma which forms the base of characters’ consciousness. Eco-psychoconsciousness enables characters attempt to rebuild their lives amidst catastrophic situations through visionary insights that mediate the cultural ambivalence of petrol.
Presenters
Nkiru Doris OnyemachiLecturer, Languages (English and Literary Studies), Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta, Nigeria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
LITERATURE, LITERARY CRITICISM, PETROFICTION, IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE, ECO-PSYCHOCONSCIOUSNESS
