POETICS OF THE FEMALE IMAGE IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY AMERICAN AND UZBEK LITERATURE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ALICE MUNRO’S AND NAZAR ESHONQUL’S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

The representation of women in contemporary literature has become one of the central issues in literary criticism due to changing social realities, gender perceptions, and cultural values. Modern American and Uzbek literature offer diverse portrayals of women that reflect both universal human experiences and culturally specific traditions. Alice Munro and Nazar Eshonqul are prominent short-story writers whose works provide valuable material for examining the poetic construction of female characters in different literary and cultural contexts.