Deep and Surface Structures of Akan Folktales

Themes, Characters, Structures and Literary Devices

Books on Akan Folktales are not easy to come by.

So, this book comes to fill part of a void and also project Akan Folktales as literature; it is based on the analysis of fifty Akan folktales from Ghana.

The deep structure is the ethics, revealed in the themes and characters.

The themes encompass both vices and virtues prevalent in the Akan society.

The characters are human and non-human, all playing roles of human beings.

The surface structure deals with aesthetics inherent in the story and the narrative structures.

The story structure reveals a concepto-mathematical model comprising three societal elements and four character functions.

The narrative structure shows an interplay of voice, mood and time.

There is prolific use of literary and rhetorical devices.Delightful and instructive, this book should be useful to everybody, especially university students and academics, who are interested in literature and related subjects such as anthropology and culture.

Readers of this book are encouraged to also read the author’s other book entitled: “50 Akan Folktales from Ghana: English and Akan Versions”, since it is the source material for the analysis made in this book.