The author’s status in the contemporary Russian and Uzbek short story

Abstract

The article analyzes the development of the post-Soviet short story in Russia and Uzbekistan and focuses on the narrative viewpoint. The authors argue that the status of the narrator is shaped not only by a shift from subjective to objective representation, but also by means of the subjectivation of historical experience, much needed to overcome the trauma of the transitional period. This is achieved through using strategies of inner speech. While both of the literary traditions explore various post-Soviet crises, such as local wars and societal collapse, they rely on different narrative forms. The Russian short story favours the openness of a novel, whereas the Uzbek version of the genre leans towards the close-endedness of a parable. A comparative study of pairs of authors (V. Makanin and S. Kholmirzaev, V. Astafiev and M. Ali) reveals typological cross-references and the genesis of a hybrid objective-subjective narrative that bridges the gap between the author, the narrator, and the hero.