INITIATION IN CONTEMPORARY AZERBAIJANI PROSE

Abstract

This article analyzes the poetic and semantic features of the initiation motif in contemporary Azerbaijani prose within the context of the individual’s spiritual and psychological transformation and search for identity. The primary aim of the study is to identify the new functions acquired by the initiation structure in the contemporary Azerbaijani novel and to systematically examine its mythological, psychoanalytic, and cultural memory dimensions. The study employs anthropological, psychoanalytic, structural-semiotic, and cultural memory approaches, drawing on the theoretical concepts of Arnold van Gennep, Mircea Eliade, Carl Gustav Jung, Joseph Campbell, Jan Assmann, and Paul Ricoeur. The analysis of prose works by Anar, Elchin, and Kamal Abdulla demonstrates that the traditional model of initiation has undergone significant transformation in contemporary Azerbaijani literature, moving away from its ritual character and acquiring predominantly psychological, existential, and cultural dimensions. The findings indicate that the protagonist’s spiritual transformation is not limited to individual crisis and self-awareness but is also shaped by sociocultural factors such as collective memory, historical trauma, the experience of war, urbanization, and alienation. The results demonstrate that, in the contemporary Azerbaijani novel, initiation functions not only as a plot-generating motif but also as a complex poetic model that represents the formation of individual and national identity, the reconstruction of memory, and the modern individual’s attempts to achieve spiritual wholeness.