The poetics of historical memory in E. Kanap'yanov's story «The nomad's commandment»

Abstract

The article provides a literary analysis of Yerulan Kanapyanov’s novella “The Nomad’s Testament,” with an emphasis on the specificity of historicism and the representation of historical memory in contemporary Kazakhstani prose. The purpose of the study is to identify the artistic techniques and poetic means through which national identity, generational continuity, and the values of nomadic culture are formed in the text.

The scientific significance of the work is determined by the systematization of the mechanisms of artistic understanding of historical and cultural experience, which makes it possible to clarify the role of folklore, mythopoetic, and symbolic elements in modeling historical memory. Its practical significance lies in the possibility of using the research results in educational and research activities, particularly in the study of contemporary Kazakhstani literature, the problem of historical memory, and the worldview foundations of nomadic society.

The methodological basis of the study relies on an integrated approach that includes textual, artistic-structural, historical-literary, and cultural analysis. Comparative-typological and interpretive methods are used to reveal the specificity of the poetics of historical memory in the system of images, motifs, and chronotope of the work.

The results of the study show that in “The Nomad’s Testament” historical memory functions as a structure-forming component of the artistic world. Through the motifs of ancestral testament, the imagery of nomadic life, folklore allusions, and mythopoetic constructions, the author integrates the past into the contemporary consciousness of the reader.

The findings make it possible to consider the novella as a conceptually coherent artistic interpretation of memory that serves as a basis for national identity and cultural continuity. The study demonstrates the relevance of the work for further literary analysis and confirms its significance in the context of the development of contemporary Kazakhstani prose.

Keywords: historicism, historical memory, Kazakh prose, nomadic culture, chronotope, poetics of memory, cultural continuity.