Modern Uzbek literature is the literature of renewal, mainly of the independence years (after 1991) and the period just before. Once ideological constraints were lifted, writers began to write freely about previously forbidden subjects: the repressions, national identity, the cotton monoculture, the complex layers of human psychology. Alongside author — work matching, exams set literary analysis questions, so the analysis algorithm in this topic is especially important. Contemporary literature is still an "unfinished" process and judgements about it can be debated, so this topic tests not only facts but also the ability to justify your own view.
§1. Features of the period
Creative freedom and a variety of themes; restoring historical truth (the Jadids, the years of repression).
National identity and spiritual values, the native land, the memory of ancestors.
Human psychology: inner monologue, stream of consciousness, depiction through dreams and memories.
Modernist experiments: symbolic-philosophical prose, unconventional composition, plots built on metaphor.
In poetry, free verse (sarbast) coexists with traditional barmoq and aruz.
In a modern work the meaning often matters more than the events: look for symbols.
There are two reasons for these changes. First, ideological censorship disappeared and previously closed themes opened up. Second, Uzbek writers absorbed the experience of world literature — García Márquez, Kafka, Faulkner, Aitmatov: ways of narrating, broken time and the creation of a symbolic world entered national literature too.
§2. Prose
Tog‘ay Murod (1948–2003) — the novel «Otamdan qolgan dalalar» ("The Fields My Father Left", 1994): through the life of the farmer Dehqonqul it explores the bond between land and people and the tragedy of the cotton monoculture; a rhythmic, repetition-rich style close to folklore. Novellas: «Yulduzlar mangu yonadi» (Bo‘ri polvon), «Oydinda yurgan odamlar».
O‘tkir Hoshimov — «Tushda kechgan umrlar» ("Lives Passed in a Dream", 1994): the tragic fate of Rustam, who returns from the Afghan war, and injustice in society.
Xurshid Do‘stmuhammad — the novel «Bozor» ("The Market"; a moral test in the market era), «Jajji jodugar», «Donishmand Sizif».
Nazar Eshonqul — symbolic-philosophical prose: the story «Go‘rkov» ("The Gravedigger"), the novella «Qora kitob», the novel «Tun panjaralari».
Isajon Sulton — novels «Boqiy darbadar», «Ozod» — philosophical and spiritual quest.
Ulug‘bek Hamdam — the novel «Muvozanat» ("Balance"): a person’s inner balance and society.
Erkin A’zam, Luqmon Bo‘rixon, Shoyim Bo‘tayev — short stories and novellas.
What unites these works is a new view of the individual and society: the hero is no longer a "model builder" but a living person with inner questions, mistakes and searches.
§3. Poetry
A new stage in the work of Abdulla Oripov and Erkin Vohidov: independence, the homeland, spirituality.
Muhammad Yusuf (1954–2001) — heartfelt lyric poetry close to the people, the theme of the homeland; many of his poems became songs.
Iqbol Mirzo, Sirojiddin Sayyid, Halima Xudoyberdiyeva — homeland, love, the image of the mother.
Rauf Parfi — complex symbolism, modernist poetry.
§4. Reading a contemporary poem
Three systems of versification live side by side in contemporary poetry: barmoq (an equal number of syllables), aruz (mainly in the ghazal) and sarbast (free verse: lines of unequal length, no obligatory rhyme, with rhythm held by syntax and repetition). Sarbast is not verse "without rules": its rhythm is created by pauses, repetition and line breaks.
Sarbast — free verse: syllable count and rhyme are not obligatory; rhythm comes from syntax and repetition.
Worked example
Identify the metre and interpret the meaning of these lines (written for this lesson, not taken from a real poem): Dalam — / otamning kaftidagi chiziqlar. / Har bahor / men ularni qaytadan o‘qiyman. ("My field — / the lines on my father’s palm. / Every spring / I read them again.")
Counting syllables: the lines have 2, 10, 3 and 10 syllables — neighbouring lines are unequal and there is no regular repeating measure, so this is not barmoq.
Rhyme: the line endings do not rhyme, and there are no aruz patterns.
Source of rhythm: the alternation of short and long lines and the pause marked by a dash are signs of sarbast.
Meaning: the field is compared to the lines on the father’s palm — land and the memory of generations are one; "I read them again" means understanding the inheritance anew each year.
Answer: sarbast; the theme is the land and the father’s legacy (close to the theme of Tog‘ay Murod’s novel).
§5. Literary analysis algorithm
When analysing any work, go in this order:
Theme — what the work is about (area of life, problem).
Idea (g‘oya) — what the author affirms or condemns.
System of characters — main and secondary characters and their contrasts.
Conflict — external (person vs society) or internal (a struggle within the hero).
Plot and composition — order of events, flashbacks, open ending.
Language and style — who narrates (1st or 3rd person), rhythm, word choice.
The author’s position — whose side the author takes and how he judges.
Worked example
Analyse the novel «Otamdan qolgan dalalar».
Theme: the farmer and the land; village life in the Soviet era.
Idea: love of the land is a person’s true root; the cotton monoculture and injustice ruin both people and the land.
Main character: Dehqonqul — hard-working and simple-hearted, but powerless before the system.
Conflict: between the farmer and the system that crushes him.
Symbol: "the fields my father left" — the heritage of generations, ancestral memory and the homeland.
Style: repetitions and rhythm typical of folk epics, language close to everyday speech.
Conclusion: the novel is a bitter truth about the value of land and of people.
Worked example
Explain the title «Tushda kechgan umrlar».
The hero Rustam, back from the war, cannot find his place in life.
His life passes as if in a dream — hopes and dreams never come true.
The title points not to one person but to the wasted, devalued lives of a whole generation.
Answer: the title is symbolic and expresses the tragic idea of the work.
§6. New techniques in contemporary prose
Stream of consciousness — the hero’s thoughts are given as a disordered, continuous flow.
Retrospection — events are told by going back into the past through memory.
Open ending — the author leaves the conclusion to the reader.
Multiple voices — one event is shown from different characters’ points of view.
A symbolic-philosophical world — the real place and time may be indefinite (as in Nazar Eshonqul’s prose), and events are read as allegory.
Worked example
A story opens with the hero’s death; then his childhood and youth are recalled not in order but mixed together, and at the end it is not stated plainly how things turned out. Which techniques are used?
Events start from the end and return to the past → retrospection.
Memories are disordered and given in the flow of the hero’s thoughts → elements of stream of consciousness.
No conclusion is stated at the end → open ending.
Answer: retrospection, stream of consciousness, open ending.
Check yourself
Who wrote the novel «Otamdan qolgan dalalar»?
Who is the main character of «Tushda kechgan umrlar»?
Who wrote the story «Go‘rkov»?
Who wrote the novel «Muvozanat»?
What is free verse without obligatory syllable count or rhyme called in Uzbek?
What is the technique of narrating by going back into the past through memory called?
Who wrote the novel «Bozor»?
"What the work is about" — is that its theme or its idea?
Common mistakes
"Analysing" a work by retelling the plot — show the idea, characters and literary devices too.
Naming O‘tkir Hoshimov as the author of «Otamdan qolgan dalalar» (it is Tog‘ay Murod).
Confusing theme and idea.
Reading a symbolic detail literally (the field is not just farmland).
Attributing the novel «Bozor» to Isajon Sulton (it is Xurshid Do‘stmuhammad’s).
Treating sarbast as verse "without metre or rules" — its rhythm is created by syntax and repetition.