GENRE SPECIFICITY OF AZERBAIJANI PROSE IN THE PERIOD OF INDEPENDENCE

Abstract

The article analyzes the genre and stylistic features of Azerbaijani prose in the period of independence, its ideological and aesthetic development, and the transformations occurring in literary thought. The study examines the influence of postmodern thinking on prose, the transformation of literary time and space, the artistic representation of individual and national memory, and the reflection of the Karabakh War and post-war realities in literature. Particular attention is paid to the development of the novel, novella, short story, and documentary-fictional prose, as well as intergenre synthesis, stylistic polyphony, and the deepening of psychological analysis. Based on Kamal Abdulla’s novel The Incomplete Manuscript and the literary works of Afaq Masud, the study explores manifestations of postmodern and modernist poetics in contemporary Azerbaijani prose. The findings demonstrate that, during the period of independence, Azerbaijani prose has moved beyond traditional literary models and evolved into a dynamic literary system that expresses the inner world of individuals, historical experience, national identity, and changing social realities through more complex, multilayered, and diverse aesthetic approaches.