Sarcouncil Journal of Arts and Literature Aims & Scope

Abstract: This article examines, from a comparative perspective, the problem of the protagonist in war prose. There is a growing need to study the issue of the modern individual situated at the intersection of national cultures from new socio-historical positions. This is most clearly reflected in the discourse of "man and war" at the level of philosophical reflection. The artistic exploration of the theme of war and the post-war period is equally represented in both Russian and Uzbek prose at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The protagonists in the works of V.P. Astafyev and Nazar Eshonkul portray individuals displaced by objective social circumstances from their historical time—crushed by these forces, alienated from society and from themselves, lonely, and therefore collapsing as personalities. Such are Normat in Nazar Eshonkul's novella People of War and Danila, Marina, and Arkasha in Astafyev's short story The Passing Goose. At the core of the protagonist concept lies the question of the individual's search for their historical place and the possibilities of self-realization in contemporary reality. Under certain socio-historical conditions during wartime, the literary protagonist emerges as a figure capable of embodying the most essential or significant character traits of their era. The characters created by V. Astafyev and Nazar Eshonkul are precisely such figures. By focusing on the "eternal" problems of human existence, Astafyev and Eshonkul resolve moral and philosophical issues through artistic representation. These concerns dominate the prose of both writers and shape their unique authorial conceptions of the protagonist. These characters reflect the full range of ethical and aesthetic issues within their literary worlds and define the authors' original philosophical outlooks.