The Artistic Concept of Personality in Ä.Nurpeisov’s Novel The Final Duty

Abstract

This article analyzes the artistic concept of the character in Ä. Nūrpeisov’s novel-dilogy The Last Duty, a significant work in contemporary Kazakh literature. The study aims to explore how the novel portrays the country’s socio-ecological problems through its characters. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Aral Sea disaster, depicting its environmental degradation from the 1960s to the 1980s. The author illustrates the consequences of this ecological catastrophe through the psychological conflicts among the three main characters. Alongside the ecological theme, the novel also addresses fundamental human and national values. The psychological tension reaches its peak when the three characters find themselves adrift on ice in the open sea, confronting the thin line between life and death. The character serves as the bearer of the author’s ideas. Nūrpeisov places a significant artistic burden on Jädiger’s character, embodying themes of love for one’s homeland, responsibility, self-sacrifice, and an unbreakable filial duty that lasts until one’s final breath. The image of the sea in the novel performs chronotopic and symbolic functions, acting as both a setting and a unifying metaphor. The novel’s structure, largely built on character monologues, emphasizes the uniqueness of artistic time. The moments of struggle for survival not only reveal the true nature of the characters but also lead to profound transformations in their worldviews. To analyze the artistic concept of the character in roman, the study employs a systematic approach, along with historical-literary and comparative-typological methods.