CONTEMPORARY LITERARY STUDIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE “UZBEKISTAN–2030” STRATEGY: THE POETICS OF THE MOTHER FIGURE IN MAGGIE O’FARRELL’S WORKS
Keywords:
“Uzbekistan — 2030”, higher education, fundamental research, contemporary English literature, Maggie O’Farrell, motherhood, mother figure, poetics, female identity, memory, narratology, palimpsest, trauma, Hamnet, The Hand That First Held Mine.Abstract
This article examines selected theoretical and methodological aspects of contemporary English literary studies in the context of the objectives of the “Uzbekistan — 2030” Strategy concerning the development of higher education, fundamental research, and modern academic methodologies. The study focuses on Maggie O’Farrell’s The Hand That First Held Mine and Hamnet, analysing the poetic representation of motherhood in relation to female identity, memory, temporality, loss, and personal transformation. Psychological characterization, retrospection, parallel plot structures, palimpsestic narration, symbolic detail, multiple perspectives, and the synthesis of historical and individual time are identified as significant poetic devices constructing maternal identity. The analysis also draws on Adrienne Rich’s theory of motherhood, Sara Ruddick’s concept of maternal thinking, Sarah Dillon’s theory of the palimpsest, Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory, and Linda Hutcheon’s approach to historical fiction. The findings demonstrate the potential of integrating contemporary foreign fiction into Uzbekistan’s higher education and humanities research while expanding the methodological resources of comparative literary studies.
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