A Lie That Tells The Truth: Reader's Perspective of Igbo Fiction

Abstract

   

Igbo novels are works of art that evolve from imaginative revelations of the past age, the present age, or even the future age. Today, so many Igbo works of fiction are floating in society as scholars strive to preserve the language through Igbo literature. Yet, these works of fiction are not in any way cherished by some native speakers of the language or attract wide readership and appreciation, unlike English novels. The objectives of this study are therefore to acquaint people especially the Igbo that there is the truth about life wrapped up in Igbo fiction. Such truth will give people more memorable insight into the secondary world created by Igbo novels. The readerresponse theory was adopted against the traditional, formalistic, and biographical approaches to literary appreciation. Related literature was reviewed. This is qualitative research that adopted the descriptive survey method to attain the goals of the study. Three persons (readers) were given the novels: Erimma, Ụkpana Okpoko Buuru, and Uru Nwa, to read to elicit their responses about Igbo fiction (novels). Similarly, written questions were given to them in respect of the novels read. Their written responses were collected and analyzed. The findings of the work proved that fiction is a reflection of reality and the readers to some reasonable extent are the creation or production of the meaning of a text. A text is complete only when it is read and the reader contributes his part in synthesizing the gaps left in the narrative by the author. The writer, therefore, suggests that scholars and teachers of Igbo literature should be aware of the shift away from interpreting literary work from the author's perspective to the reader's perspective thus enhancing the contributions of the readers in the story world.