THE SYNTHESIS OF MODERNISM AND TRADITION: THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE WORKS OF JAMES JOYCE AND CHO'LPON

This study explores the synthesis of modernist experimentation and national tradition through a comparative analysis of James Joyce and Abdulhamid Cho‘lpon—two literary figures who reshaped their respective cultural landscapes during the first half of the twentieth century. Although separated by geography, language, and ideology, both writers engaged in a radical redefinition of narrative form and consciousness. Joyce, in Ulysses (1922) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), revolutionized narrative language through his stream of consciousness technique, linguistic fragmentation, and interior monologue, representing the modern individual’s divided psyche. Cho‘lpon, in Kecha va Kunduz (Night and Day, 1936) and his lyrical poetry, introduced psychological introspection and linguistic modernism to Uzbek literature, blending European narrative forms with national poetic identity. This article examines how both authors negotiate between modernism and tradition, how the technique of stream of consciousness functions as a vehicle of cultural self-expression, and how linguistic innovation mirrors socio-political transformation. By employing comparative stylistic and semiotic analysis, this research demonstrates that both Joyce and Cho‘lpon exemplify a “double consciousness” —a modern awareness shaped by cultural memory and artistic autonomy. Their works illuminate how global modernism can be localized through language, identity, and imagination, providing insight into the transcultural nature of literary modernity.