THE INTERTEXTUAL AND COMPARATIVE-LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE HERO’S SPIRITUAL, MORAL AND EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S THE GREAT GATSBY AND SELECTED UZBEK NOVELS OF THE INDEPENDENCE PERIOD

Abstract

This article investigates the artistic interpretation of the hero’s spiritual crisis in F.S. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and selected Uzbek novels of the independence period through the prism of intertextuality. The research focuses on the psychological, moral, and socio-cultural dimensions of crisis as represented in The Great Gatsby, Erkin A’zam’s A Walk under the Thunderstorm, and Ulugbek Hamdam’s Balance. Particular attention is paid to such issues as inner conflict, spiritual emptiness, alienation, the crisis of values, the relationship between the individual and society, and the opposition between material aspiration and spiritual need. The article argues that intertextuality in these works is not limited to direct textual references, but is manifested through common motifs, symbolic images, semantic parallels, and comparable models of human suffering. The comparison demonstrates that while Fitzgerald’s novel presents spiritual crisis mainly through the collapse of the American Dream and the tragedy of individual illusion, Uzbek novels interpret it through the search for moral stability, conscience, family responsibility, and spiritual balance. Thus, the study reveals both universal and nationally specific aspects of the hero’s spiritual crisis in American and Uzbek literary traditions.