Jorges P. Lopez
The study of the Afican novel is often challenging to both the teacher and the student in high schools and colleges. This is because, apart from many modern African novels being multi-faceted, many teachers and students still use the traditional methods of analysis. Often, such methods leave the reader with a lot of knowledge about the particular text, but with few literary skills that can be used on other literary texts or even other genres. This guide book approaches this subject a little differently. First, It uses a series of questions which help the reader to do a personal analysis of the text, rather than give a corpus of facts about the novel like many traditional guides do. These questions are arranged such that the reader is able to move from the facts or the events and incidents narrated in the novel, gradually to the elements of literature - plot, themes, characters and elements of style - which is what any examiner, and other critics, deal with. Even so, the book presents these traditional facts later but now, the reader can easily see where they are drawn from. That way, the reader, especially the new student of literature in general and the critic of the African novel in particular, can build skills which help appreciate the novel and literature in general. This is important because, such skills, once acquired, can easily be used on other novels, African or otherwise, even in other genres of literature. The notes given later therefore form a basis for discussion between the reader and the critic, a discussion in which the reader has already been sharpened enough to either agree or disagree with what is said. That, I believe, is the point of studying literature. Also, the book provides a step by step interpretation, planning and execution of both excerpt and essay questions - a daunting task for the modern high school and college student. This will help the student do what examiners expect and apply these skills to any other genres of literature they come across.
