Circle as a Reflection: “Almaty” Text as a Wayto Express Traditionalism (D. Nakipov’s Novel “The Circle of Ash”)

Abstract

The article deals with the poetics of a circle and a text as a way to express traditionalism in contemporary literature. The object of the analysis is the novel “The Circle of Ash” by the Kazakh writer D. Nakipov. The purpose of this article is to prove that this work of literature is written in the spirit of traditional mythological poetics, which excludes the validity of characterizing it as a postmodern novel. This approach is built on the following assumptions. The first is to develop a philosophical-aesthetic basis of the notion of “Almaty” text that is introduced for the first time (by analogy with “Moscow” and “St. Petersburg” Russian literature texts) as a sign of traditionalism in Kazakh literature. The second is to identify a reflection as a manifestation of mythological poetics. The third is to study the semantics of the circle as a central phenomenon in reflection. The results of the study can be used for holding special courses and seminars on the poetics of a literary text and the contemporary literary process, etc. The analysis of the poetics of the circle in D. Nakipov’s novel “The Circle of Ash” allows organizing and compiling literary interpretations of the circle, define it as the basic principle, forming the essence of the composition of the author’s whole work.