The Archetype of the Empty City in Modern Kazakh and International Literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18172/cif.6702Keywords:
cultural identity, psychological impact, emotional perception, symbolism, social change, internal conflictsAbstract
The purpose of the study is to analyse the archetype of the empty city in literature and to uncover its symbolic importance and influence on cultural and historical perception. The study examines the thematic works by Kazakh, English and American authors. The various cultural and historical contexts in which the image of the empty city appears, alongside its impact on readers’ perceptions are also considered. The main findings reveal that the empty city symbolises the collapse of a familiar way of life and experience of significant losses, embodying major historical and social upheavals. This image evokes strong feelings of isolation, alienation, and despair in characters, compelling them to seek new ways of survival and adaptation to altered circumstances. In literature, empty cities and auls often symbolise the loss of cultural identity and severance from historical heritage, becoming metaphors for societies forced to adapt to new realities. The study also identifies that, despite its bleakness and destruction, the empty city carries the symbolism of hope for revival and restoration. The protagonists strive to rebuild shattered communities, revive cultural traditions, and discover new sources of strength and inspiration, highlighting the pursuit of renewal and the preservation of cultural heritage. The atmosphere created by the imagery of empty cities intensifies feelings of fear, despair, and hopelessness, serving as a backdrop for dramatic events and the internal conflicts of characters. Collectively, the archetype of the empty city plays a substantial role in literature, enabling authors to explore and express important aspects of the human experience. It provides powerful symbolic imagery through which profound cultural and historical processes and characters’ internal experiences are conveyed. These images contribute to the creation of layered and profound literary works that resonate with readers and help them comprehend complex social and emotional themes.
Downloads
References
ALTAY, A., AITUGANOVA, S., and AUBAKIROVA, K. (2015). “The main features of translations of foreign literature by Jusupbek Aimautuly: Cultural and historical differences”. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 12(12), 1023–1031. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2015.1023.1031 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2015.1023.1031
ALTYBAEVA, S.M., and ZHANYSBEKOVA, E.T. (2016). “Kazakh novel-myth: Semantics, structure, ‘narrative framework’”. News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 6(305), 217–221. http://nblib.library.kz/elib/library.kz/Jurnal/%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_01_2016/S.M.%20Altybaeva%2001-16.pdf
AMANGAZYKYZY, M., GILEA, A., KARLYGASH, A., NURZIYA, A., and SANDYGASH, K. (2025). “Epistemological Transformation of the Paradigm of Literary Studies in the Context of the Integration of Digital Humanities Methods”. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(4), 166–176. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.8619 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i4.8619
AMANGAZYKYZY, M., ORAZBEK, M., TOXAMBAYEVA, A., AKMANOVA, G., and TALASPAEVA, ZH. (2021). “Existential motives in city prose”. Astra Salvensis, 1(2021), 251–268. https://astrasalvensis.eu/?mdocs-file=2260
AUEZOV, M.O. (1997). Abay’s way. Almaty: Silk Road. https://auezov.kz/files/784.pdf
BOLEA, S. (2020). Internal conflict in nineteenth-century literature: Reading the Jungian shadow. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781666996173
BRITT, L., and HAMMETT, W.H. (2024). “Trauma as cultural capital: A critical feminist theory of trauma discourse”. Hypatia. https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2024.22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/hyp.2024.22
CORNEJO, A.S. (2023). “Imaginaries and archetypes on the death of the city”. In F. CARRIÓN MENA and P. CEPEDA PICO (Eds.), Urbicide: The death of the city (pp. 93–105). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25304-1_6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25304-1_6
DE MORAES, G.L., and FITTIPALDI, M. (2024). “The Multimodality Approach in the Planning of Mediation Situations for Digital Literary Works: A Case Study at GRETEL”. Bakhtiniana, 19(3), e64197e. https://doi.org/10.1590/2176-4573e64197
DOSZHAN, R. (2023). “Multi-vector cultural connection in the conditions of modern globalization”. Interdisciplinary Cultural and Humanities Review, 2(1), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.59214/2786-7110-2023-2-1-27-32 DOI: https://doi.org/10.59214/2786-7110-2023-2-1-27-32
EFREMOV, A. (2025a). “The Psychology of Faith and Religious Identity: How Theology Shapes Worldview and Self-Perception”. Pharos Journal of Theology, 106(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.106.3020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.46222/pharosjot.106.3020
EFREMOV, A. (2025b). “Psychiatry in the context of changing cultural norms: Mental disorders among migrants and refugees”. Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, 35(4), 100544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbct.2025.100544 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbct.2025.100544
ESENBERLIN, E. (2021). Nomads. Almaty: Publishing House “Book Club”.
GURR, J.M. (2020). Charting literary urban studies: Texts as models of and for the city. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003111009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003111009
HAY, J. (2020). Apocalypse in American literature and culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663557 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108663557
HERBERT, J. (2018). The fog. London: Pan Macmillan.
HOFFMAN, A. (2019). The city as a trap: 20th and 21st century American literature and the American myth of mobility. Milwaukee: Marquette University. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/846/
JIAO, J. (2024). “Theoretical and applied aspects of modern linguoculturology based on intercultural communication”. Dragoman, 14(16), 171-193.
JUNG, C.G. (2003). Psychology of the unconscious. New York: Dover Publications.
JUNG, C.G. (2015). On psychological and visionary art: Notes from C.G. Jung’s lecture on Gerard de Nerval’s Aurelia. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400873470
KHUDAIBERGENOV, N., ORDA, G., ASKAROVA, G., MATBEK, N., IMAKHANBET, R., and NAGIYATOVA, L. (2018). “Early reflections of universal human values in Kazakh prose”. Astra Salvensis, 1(6), 391-408.
KIELISZEK, KS.Z., and GOCŁOWSKA, E. (2019). “The tragedy of Ismena’s fate and character with the “Theban trilogy” of Sophocles as the realization of Aristotle’s catharsis theory”. Studia Warminskie, 56, 7–26. https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.3686 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.3686
KIELISZEK, Z. (2023). “Interpretation of the Fates and Character of Antigone in Sophocles’ “Theban Trilogy” in the Light of the Aristotelian Theory of Catharsis”. Studia Warminskie, 60, 7–27. https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.8691 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.8691
LAUTA, O.D., and GEIKO, S.M. (2022). “Interaction of cultures and phenomenon of tradition”. Humanities Studios: Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, 10(3), 176–184. https://doi.org/110.31548/hspedagog13(3).2022.176-184 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31548/hspedagog13(3).2022.176-184
LEE, T. (2021). “Beyond archetypes: Advancing the knowledge of narrative fiction in future scenarios”. Futures, 132, 102779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102779 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102779
MANIN, Y.I. (2022). Math as metaphor. Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education. https://math.ru/lib/files/pdf/manin.pdf
MATHESON, R. (2019). I am legend and other stories. New York: Tor Nightfire.
MCNAMARA, K.R. (2021). The city in American literature and culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108895262 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108895262
MUKHERJEE, A. (2021). Unseen city: The psychic lives of the urban poor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042680 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042680
NAVAS, D., and DE ALMEIDA, L.T. (2024). “Literary Words and Images: Approximations between Comic Books and Picturebooks”. Bakhtiniana, 19(3), e63806e. https://doi.org/10.1590/2176-4573e63806 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/2176-4573p63806
NURGAZIEV, T. (2023). “Archetype and symbol in Kazakh literature: Some problems of psychoanalytic analysis (on the example of folk stories)”. Bulletin of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University: Series Philological, 192(4), 156–165. https://doi.org/10.26577/EJPh.2023.v192.i4.ph14 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26577/EJPh.2023.v192.i4.ph14
NURPEISOV, A.-J. (2013). Blood and sweat. New York: Liberty Publishing House.
NURSTOM, A. (2021). Places of rest in worlds of ruin: Havens in post-apocalyptic fiction. Karlstad: Karlstad University. https://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1525403&dswid=9922
OMAROV, B.Z., SALKYNBAYEV, M.B., KYDYR, T.E., KULDEYEVA, G.I., YESKINDIROVA, M.Z., and ALSHINBAYEVA, Z.K. (2020). “Reflection of ideas about native land in poetic and prose works using narrative literature technique”. Media Watch, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.15655/mw/2020/v11i2/195664 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15655/mw/2020/v11i2/195664
PEACOCK, J. (2023). “Other neighbourhoods, other worlds: Gentrification and contemporary speculative fictions”. Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, 10(1), 113–134. https://doi.org/10.1386/jucs_00067_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jucs_00067_1
PEAKE, M. (2024). Titus Groan. Barcelona: Atico de Los Libros. https://aticodeloslibros.com/inicio/164-titus-groan.html
PEDERSON, J. (2020). “Cognitive approaches to trauma and literature”. In C. DAVIS and H. MERETOJA (Eds.), The Routledge companion to literature and trauma (pp. 220–229). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351025225 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351025225-20
READ, T. (2019). Walking shadows: Archetype and psyche in crisis and growth. New York: Aeon Academic.
ROSE, G. (2022). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage Publications.
SCHWARZE, T. (2023). “Henri Lefebvre and the production of space”. In Space, urban politics, and everyday life: Henri Lefebvre and the U.S. city (pp. 17–72). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46038-8_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46038-8_2
SEIFULLIN, S. (1975). Thorny path: Historical and autobiographical novel and a short story. Astana: Publishing House “Audarma”. https://adebiportal.kz/web/viewer.php?file=/storage/upload/iblock/834/8346b595e67b75d7539f545c7301a26a.pdf&ln=en
SHERSHOVA, T., & CHAIKA, V. (2024). “Cultural memory and memory culture”. Humanities Studios: Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, 12(1), 188–195. https://doi.org/10.31548/hspedagog15(1).2024.188-195 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31548/hspedagog15(1).2024.188-195
VALIKOVA, O. (2018). “Creativity in the context of Kazakh prose: Why masks wonder around”. Creativity Studies, 11(2), 244–257. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.6172 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.6172
VON BEHREN, S., TUREK, M., BARTHELMES, L., SCHOLTA, H., HANSEN, F., KAGERBAUER, M., and EISENMANN, C. (2023). “Decoding urban archetypes: Exploring mobility-related homogeneity among cities”. Sustainability, 15(19), 14231. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914231 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914231
WALKER, O. (2019). Literature and life through the lens of the archetypes. Victoria: University of Victoria. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/7acdde40-7f48-42ea-b235-f37065fa6199/content
WYNDHAM, J. (2022). The day of the Triffids. New York: Modern Library.
ZHANYSBEKOVA, E.T. (2019). “New myth: Content and structure”. In A.K. SHAPAUOV (Ed.), Bulletin of Kokshetau State University named after Sh. Ualikhanov. Philology Series 4 (pp. 188–192). Almaty: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. http://is.nku.edu.kz/publishings/%7BD9D089C6-37C9-4D9A-ABC8-69546713F9A8%7D.pdf#page=188
ZHANYSBEKOVA, E.T. (2020). “Ancient and biblical images and characters in Kazakh prose in the modern period”. News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Series of Social and Human Sciences, 4(332), 296–306. https://doi.org/10.32014/2020.2224-5294.131 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32014/2020.2224-5294.131
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Moldir Amangazykyzy, Zhanbota Sekey, Aivar Kadyrov, Raushan Sabyrbayeva, Gulderaim Sagyndykkyzy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors retain copyright of articles and authorize CIF the first publication. They are free to share and redistribute the article without obtaining permission from the publisher as long as they give appropriate credit to the editor and the journal.
Self-archiving is allowed too. In fact, it is recommendable to deposit a PDF version of the paper in academic and/or institutional repositories.
It is recommended to include the DOI number.
This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
