Abstract
In the research article, the authors touch upon the problem of the heterogeneous representation of a historical person in Western and Eastern literary works. Therefore, the Kazakh historical novel and a foreign epic work of antiquity were taken as the object of research, through which attention was paid to identifying differences and similarities in each work in creating a literary and artistic image of the kagan Yedil. At the same time, it was suggested that the appearance of such differences is directly influenced by the position of the authors, and other factors in creating the image of the hero should not be overlooked. To achieve the goal on this issue, theoretical and historical works of domestic and foreign authors were considered. Another relevance of the article lies in the fact that the works under consideration have never been deeply evaluated as an object of fundamental research in the Kazakh literary science. In the course of the study, attention was drawn to the specifics of the methods and techniques of creating a literary image reflected in T. Zakenuly's historical work “Attila. Balkan tauga bargandar” (Attila. Those who Visited the Balkan Mountain), and the purpose of the ancient German epic “The Song of the Nibelungs”. The assessment of artistic solutions in creating the image of the Kagan Edil in two works, interpretations of historical sources, the behavior of a historical personality and psychology is given.