DIRECTIONS IN THE STUDY OF ALISHER NAVOI’S WORKS IN CONTEMPORARY WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP

Abstract

This article analyzes the main directions in the study of Alisher Navoi’s oeuvre in contemporary Western scholarship. While the initial study of Navoi’s legacy within European and American Oriental studies was primarily associated with linguistics, Turkology, and textual criticism, subsequent scholarship has increasingly examined his works in close connection with the political and cultural environment of the Timurid period, Chagatai literature, Persian-Turkic literary interactions, Sufism, creative imitation, patronage, cultural exchange, and historical memory. The article traces the methodological development of Western Navoi studies through the works of scholars such as János Eckmann, András J. E. Bodrogligeti, Alexandre Papas, Mark Toutant, and Boram Shin. Particular attention is devoted to the interpretation of Navoi’s Khamsa in the context of creative imitation, cultural acculturation, political authority, patronage, and Sufism, with special reference to Mark Toutant’s monograph Un empire de mots. The study demonstrates that contemporary Western Navoi scholarship increasingly tends to interpret Navoi’s oeuvre not merely as a phenomenon of national literature, but also as a transnational phenomenon that emerged within the multilingual and multicultural literary space of the Timurid period