The Place of Nazr Eshonkul in Modern Uzbek Literature

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the literary feature of one of the deepest and philosophical writers of modern Uzbek prose Nazar Eshonqul. His artistic evolution covering pre-independent and independent Uzbekistan can serve as a microcosm of national self-identity, historical consciousness and spiritual resurrection. Although Eshonqul has great fame on national and international levels, there are not sufficient analytical elaboration to the philosophical, psychological and stylistic complexities of his prose on the base of East-West literary bridge. The research used descriptive and analytical methods based on the content analysis of some of his main works; You Can’t Catch the Wind, The Man Led by a Monkey, The Trap of Imagination, etc., which are dominant themes, stylistic devices, and philosophical currents. Interpretive methods of comparative literary analysis are also used to draw parallels with Western modernism and the existentialism. The paper indicates that Eshonqul's prose is a combination of realism and existentialism, focusing on man's internal conflict, sense of morality, and the Individual vs societal and spiritual crisis. In his stripped-down but emotionally-commanding narrative style, everyday realities become vehicles for deep philosophical contemplation.Eshonqul's social and artistic vision combined national identity with modern global humanistic values, and these things together redefined literature in contemporary Uzbekistan. His oeuvre has largely defined stylistics in Uzbek prose writing, and contributed to the intellectual and moral thinking of post-independence literature, establishing him as a link between classical realism and philosophical modernism.