Abstract
The article analyzes national spirit, historical consciousness, and personal transformation in contemporary Kazakh prose through the archetypal structures and artistic system of A. Alakanyly’s short stories «Ter tamǵan zher» and «Aýyl». The study aims to determine the conceptual foundations of the writer’s poetics by applying artistic-aesthetic and literary-theoretical analysis to themes of national existence, historical memory, and spiritual renewal. The research focuses on the dialectics of historical time and subjective consciousness, the archetypal correlation between national memory and spatial imagery, and the artistic representation of tradition and transformation. Particular attention is given to the unity of space and time, the symbolic system, and psychological characterization as key mechanisms for reconstructing national identity and reviving historical awareness. Methodologically, the study employs structural, semantic, and poetic analysis. Archetypal analysis reveals the symbolic interconnection between memory and space, while the chronotopic approach clarifies the artistic function of temporal and spatial categories. Symbolic interpretation and psychological-poetic portraiture are used to examine the character’s inner evolution. The findings demonstrate that in «Ter tamǵan zher» and «Aýyl» the interaction of historical time and subjective consciousness, existential tension, and spiritual rebirth is conveyed through a coherent symbolic and chronotopic structure. The article proposes a methodological model for exploring national identity through literary texts and advances the study of national poetics, the national spirit, and historical consciousness in contemporary Kazakh prose.