METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO ANALYZING WAR THEMES IN LITERATURE
Keywords:
War literature,Methodology,Trauma theory, Historical-critical analysis, Comparative literature, Postcolonial studies, Narrative structure, Ethics in literature, Uzbek literature, 20th-century conflictsAbstract
This study examines the methodological frameworks employed in analyzing war themes in literature, emphasizing the intersection of historical context, psychological trauma, ethical inquiry, and cultural identity. By integrating historical-critical, psychoanalytic, trauma-theoretical, comparative, narratological, postcolonial, interdisciplinary, and ethical approaches, the research highlights how literature represents both the human and societal dimensions of conflict. The study draws on examples from 20th- and 21st-century English and Uzbek literature, illustrating cross-cultural similarities and divergences in the depiction of heroism, moral ambiguity, trauma, and collective memory. Additionally, the research explores how formal structures, narrative techniques, and symbolic imagery mediate the experience of war, reflecting both individual and collective responses. This multi-dimensional methodology underscores the necessity of combining analytical perspectives to understand fully the ethical, psychological, and aesthetic complexities of war narratives, contributing to a nuanced understanding of literature’s role in documenting, interpreting, and memorializing human conflict.
Downloads
References
Caruth, Cathy. (1996). Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History.
Fussell, Paul. (1975). The Great War and Modern Memory.
Oxford University Press.
Eagleton, Terry. (2011). Literary Theory: An Introduction (3rd ed.).
University of Minnesota Press.
Bassnett, Susan. (2013). Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction.
Wiley‑Blackwell. Useful for comparative methodologies across languages and cultures.
Anderson, Benedict. (2006). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Rev. ed.).
Whitehead, Anne. (2004). Trauma Fiction.
Routledge.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood & Jason Gaiger (eds.). (1998). Art in Theory 1900–2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas.
Rothberg, Michael. (2009). Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization.
Nünning, Ansgar & Vera Nünning (eds.). (2005). Metadiscourse and Metafiction in Modern Literature: From Critical Modelling to Textual Practice.
Butler, Judith. (2004). Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence.
Dawes, James. (2002). The Future of War: The Reification of Political Violence.
Lentricchia, Frank & Thomas McLaughlin (eds.). (1990). Critical Terms for Literary Study.
White, Hayden. (1973). Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth‑Century Europe.
James, Henry. (2009/Original 1896). The Art of Fiction and Other Essays.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture.
