THE ARCHETYPE OF THE GUARDIAN MOTHER OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN TATAR PROSE

Abstract

The archetype of the mother reflects the mythical ideas coming from antiquity, the conditions of social life, the philosophy and worldview of the nation. This article examines the cases of the embodiment of the mother archetype in Tatar prose as an image preserving national identity and self-identification, and for this purpose separate works of prose are considered, starting from ancient literature and up to the modern era. In Tatar-Muslim literature, a special respect for the mother has ancient roots. The awakening of national consciousness at the beginning of the 20th century increased attention to the image of the mother in Tatar realistic prose. The author of the article refers to G. Iskhaki's story «Ostazbike», G. Ibragimov's novel «Young Hearts» and shows that in pre-revolutionary literature, the integrity of the spirit and faith were placed above physical existence in the works of writers. The October Revolution destroyed the way of life of the national family: there were changes in the image of the mother woman in literature. The mother began to be portrayed not as the keeper of family values passed down from generation to generation, but as a participant in the construction of a new society, leading social activities. Having studied the works of A. Eniki «The Unspoken Testament», A. Bayanov «The Tale of the Highlands», Z. Hakim «The Song of the Mother» in the article, the author comes to the following conclusion: the archetype of the mother in most cases appears in close connection with national issues and is often used as the most important image for preserving the essence of the nation. From the image of a particular person, a woman, it grows to a national symbol. And in the relationship between mother and son, especially in the motive of the son's search for his mother and in the motive of the meeting, the search and finding of the meaning of life by a person is reflected. Consequently, the elevation of the mother's image to the status of an archetype by Tatar writers is done to strengthen national self-awareness.