LANDSCAРE SYMBOLISM IN MODERN ENGLISH AND UZBEK LITERATURE

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the function and evolution of landscape symbolism in twentieth-century English and Uzbek literature. The study argues that while both literary traditions employed nature imagery as a core poetic device to express profound internal and external crises, their symbolic systems diverged significantly due to distinct historical, cultural, and ideological contexts. English modernist literature, exemplified by T.S. Eliot, used landscape symbols—such as the wasteland, sterility, and elemental forces—to articulate a universal condition of spiritual desolation, existential anxiety, and the fragmentation of the post-war Western self. Conversely, twentieth-century Uzbek literature, represented by figures like Abdulhamid Chulpon and Rauf Parfi, repurposed traditional Eastern nature imagery within frameworks like Jadidism and responses to Soviet rule. Their symbols—the moon, sun, snow, and seasonal cycles—covertly expressed collective national trauma, the yearning for freedom, and the resilience of cultural identity. The research employs a comparative literary analysis methodology to juxtapose key texts, demonstrating how landscape symbolism served as a crucial medium for navigating modernity, one oriented towards existential critique in the West and cultural survival in the East.