Abstract
M.A (Library & Information Science)
Response to literature is a subject that has received much attention in research
during the past decade. Important contributions to our knowledge of
reader response have been made by the literary theorists. The approach in
this study is from the point of view of Readership Studies, a branch of study
that has developed in South Africa as a discipline of Library and Information
Science.
The study is an investigation of reader response as one critical moment, or
happening in a chain of happenings which constitutes the reading event. To
be able to read, a person must first decide to read, he must then select or
procure a text, then he performs a reading act on the text which causes him to
respond; the text may further have effects on the reader's attitudes, values
and even behavior. Factors concerning the text, like bibliographic form,
genre, content and availability, will have an influence on the above mentioned
critical moments. The factors concerning the reader are as important; for
instance attitude, interest, motivation, reading ability, and knowledge of
literature. These are called his predispositions. The text and the reader
are mutually responsible for the response which ensues from the reading act.