Peculiarities of national identity in Alim Keshokov's novel “Saber for the Emir”

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the lack of knowledge in Russian literary criticism of the problem of national identity and its artistic generation in North Caucasian literature. The purpose of the article is to study the typology of national identity and its reflection in national stereotypes, ethno, auto, heteroimages in the novel “Saber for the Emir” by the Kabardian (Adyghe) writer Alim Keshokov. The types of national identity represented in the fairy tale narrative, in the genres of folklore, epic traditions, and dominant metaphors, in the national idea, language and poetry, are identified and analyzed based on the approaches of literary imagology and comparative studies. The main findings indicate that A. Keshokov’s novel shows various forms of national identity generated by Adyghe (Kabardian) folklore, in the khabar genre, in the national epic heritage, in historical and heroic songs, in traditional rites, in dominant metaphors - “tribal the nature of the people” and the “ internal principle of the nation ”, in the national code of Adyghe Khabze, in the concepts of“ Fatherland ”,“ business of the nation ”, in the national language. In the work of A. Keshokov, the problem of national identity is combined with the concepts of national stereotype, ethno-, auto- and hetero-images. Materials and conclusions of the study can be used in university lectures on the history of Adyghe literature and on the history of Kabardian literature. The theoretical significance of the results lies in the expansion of scientific ideas about national issues, in the terminological clarification and in the semantic disclosure of the concept of “national identity” on the material of the novel “Saber for the Emir”.