Restoration of Archetypal Memory in Elchin's Novel Mahmud and Maryam

Abstract

This article examines the artistic reconstruction of archetypal memory in Elchin Afandiyev's novel Mahmud and Maryam within a psychoanalytic and mythopoetic framework. Drawing on Carl Gustav Jung's theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious, Mircea Eliade's concept of sacred-profane dichotomy and mythological time, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth theory, the study analyzes how archetypal structures — particularly the mother, hero, wise old man, and cosmic symbolism — are represented and transformed within the novel's poetic system. The research employs close textual analysis supplemented by intertextual and comparative perspectives, tracing the novel's engagement with the Azerbaijani epic tradition of Kitabi-Dede Gorgud and the classical Eastern literary motifs of Nizami's Layla and Majnun. The findings demonstrate that the novel does not merely reproduce traditional archetypes but actively reinterprets them through historical, cultural, and social dimensions specific to sixteenth-century Azerbaijan. The character system functions as a symbolic model of collective memory: Maryam embodies the mother archetype as a figure of sacred origin and regeneration; Mahmud instantiates the hero archetype through his progression from idealistic innocence toward spiritual trial and maturity; and Havalı Ibrahim fulfills the function of the wise old man as a mediator between visible and metaphysical knowledge. The mythopoetic construction of time and space — particularly the city of Ganja as a symbolic locus of collective memory — reinforces the cyclical rather than linear temporality characteristic of mythological narrative. The article argues that Mahmud and Maryam constitutes a complex artistic model in which archetypal memory is reconstructed through the synthesis of mythological, historical, and literary traditions, offering a significant contribution to the study of mythopoetic thinking and collective identity in modern Azerbaijani prose.