{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T21:37:00Z","timestamp":1773956220208,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"BMJ","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    This article examines Will Self\u2019s\n                    <jats:italic>Dorian, an Imitation<\/jats:italic>\n                    , by critically reframing its protagonist, Dorian Gray, through the paradigm of the healthy carrier of HIV. It portrays Dorian as the archetypal carrier-subject of biomedical discourse, embodying a twofold precarity: as a\n                    <jats:italic>vector of disease transmission<\/jats:italic>\n                    and as\n                    <jats:italic>engendering self-destructive proclivities<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Using the novel as a case in point, the article elucidates how the figure of the asymptomatic carrier subverts the Nancean conception of community characterised by a radical openness to others by facilitating an asymmetric\n                    <jats:italic>contact\u2013infection\u2013death<\/jats:italic>\n                    circuit that renders Dorian immune to HIV-related and AIDS-related afflictions while exposing others to pathological states. Self\u2019s Dorian maintains a condition of prolonged health through the enactment of hyperimmunitary practices that include the use of regenerative medicine, acts of thanatological predation and the quasi-psychological projection of his inner decay onto a set of virtual doppelgangers. However, the surplus of protection cultivated by Dorian slowly turns into autoimmune self-implosion, inducing states of psychosis that propel him towards suicide. Dorian\u2019s immunity also renders him vulnerable to an affective economy structured around vengeance and retributive violence. Drawing on the study of Self\u2019s protagonist, the article presents the carrier-subject as embodying the traits of\n                    <jats:italic>chronicity<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>invisibility<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>predatoriness<\/jats:italic>\n                    and an\n                    <jats:italic>indifference towards social responsibility<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Finally, this analysis interprets these traits engendered by the healthy carrier of HIV as indicators of susceptibility and risk that predispose others, as well as the carriers themselves, to illness and death.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013755","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T17:20:26Z","timestamp":1773940826000},"page":"medhum-2025-013755","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u201cMaybe I'm immune\u201d: the twofold precarity of the asymptomatic HIV carrier in Will Self\u2019s\n                    <i>Dorian, an Imitation<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3744-9341","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arindam","family":"Nandi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026031910201390000_medhum-2025-013755v1.1","first-page":"127","article-title":"The Carrier Problem","volume":"8","author":"Lederer","year":"1918","journal-title":"W V Med J"},{"key":"2026031910201390000_medhum-2025-013755v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1080\/13534645.2016.1261659","article-title":"Allergy and Autoimmunity: Rethinking the Normal and the Pathological","volume":"23","author":"Jamieson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Parallax"},{"key":"2026031910201390000_medhum-2025-013755v1.3","unstructured":"Luc-Nancy J . 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