Text and message approach in African literature and may Ifeoma Nwoye’s oil cemetery as an exercise in literary communication
Abstract
The introductory part of this study pointed out the nexus between text and message in African literature. This is why the study adopted text-message approach or Wolgang Iser’s reception theory for the textual analysis instead of formalism which subordinates content to form. The researcher selected a good number of passages which were interpreted using reception theory as a framework. Based on the analysis, the study revealed improvement of the condition of the people of Niger Delta and preservation of their environment through activism as the central message.