Abstract
Being a psychological state, alienation manifests in modern literature as profound estrangement from self, others, and society, often reinforced by globalization and technology. This study aims to fill the gap in research into the motif of alienation in modern Kazakh prose. Using a comprehensive approach that combines comparative and hermeneutic methods, it explores the ways how the motif of alienation is expressed in the collections “Infinity Between Seconds” and “The Chest” by one of the prominent authors in modern Kazakhstan, Zhadyra Shamuratova. The qualitative literary analysis enabled the identification of various dimensions of alienation: self-fragmentation, social estrangement, spiritual estrangement, and loss of national identity. Our research demonstrates how individual literary techniques including the use of specialized language, detective elements, and the grotesque allow revealing alienation from different perspectives and relating them to current issues in today’s Kazakhstan. This study of contemporary Kazakh prose offers conclusions regarding the writer’s mastery in using contemporary imagery in prose and psychologism in revealing societal realities, as well as contributing to the enrichment of postmodern literature by connecting global existential crises with national revival.