Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Library & Information Science)
One of the characteristics of publishing in South Africa is that it does not
reflect the demographic make-up of South Africa. Publishing in South Africa
has been largely financed and controlled by whites and little effort until
recently has been expended on the incipient black reader. This has contributed
to the lack of a reading culture amongst black people in South Africa.
Oral cultures or even cultures with residual amorality Her from Western
literate societies. These differences affect cultural products, such as
stories, and responses to cultural products. Readers whose norms and expectations
of formal discourse are governed by residual oral mindset relate to
a text quite differently from readers whose sense of style is fundamentally
textual.
When an author writes, he postulates an audience. He has to know the tradition
- the intertextuality - in which he is working. He can then create fictional
roles that the reader is willing and able to play. It is not easy to get into
a reader's mind, but it is not an impossibility if both the reader and writer
are familiar with the 1iterary tradition in which they work, whether this
tradition is oral or literate.
There are major differences between an oral and literate culture in their
thought processes, perceptions of the world, narrative structures and
understanding and response to literature. This must affect cultural accessibility
of text. An oral culture, such as black South Africans, will look for
different structures, characters and types of discourse in their literature.