The Origins and Gradual Evolution of The Comedy Genre in Eastern and Western Literature

Аннотация

This article investigates the diachronic development of the comedy genre within the context of Eastern and Western literature, encompassing the period from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Two major aspects of the genre’s evolution are emphasized: its earliest manifestations and the key factors that contributed to its subsequent development. The study draws on theoretical frameworks, notably Aristotle’s Poetics, to support its analysis. confines of our own region, without venturing beyond Introduction: Until relatively recently, the cultural it. The reason for this lies in the fact that Ancient cradle of humanity was widely believed to lie in ancient Turkestan, which has been one of the dominant powers Greece and Rome. This assumption influenced in the world for thousands of years, was one of the centuries of scholarly, cultural, and scientific centers of the very land we inhabit today. Hence, these endeavors. However, archaeological discoveries over phenomena reflect the richness of our history, culture, the past century have increasingly suggested that the customs, and especially the oral folk creativity true origins of early civilization lie in the East, not the embedded in the studied genre. All positive qualities classical West. In contrast to the West, where the typical of the East are embodied in it. For this reason, comedy genre evolved primarily through theatrical to compare Eastern comedic elements with the forms, in the East it developed along two parallel lines: comedy genre in Western literature, the example of as a formal genre and as an integral part of oral folk Uzbek literature was chosen for study. traditions. Drawing upon these findings, it becomes plausible to assert that the earliest manifestations of The dramaturgy of the Uzbek people is steeped in dramatic literature can be traced to the East. For centuries of history and tradition. It has existed for a instance, a papyrus dated to approximately 1970 BCE long time in the form of oral plays incorporated into contains what is believed to be the first known various public festivities such as jesting, clowning, dramatic scene in world literature. Similarly, early puppet theater, and other mass celebrations. The fact Egyptian literature exhibits proto-generic features of that it has appeared in various forms and is deeply travel narratives and fables. In the East, drama evolved connected with our cultural history indicates that this uniquely: in India, it took a complete form during the art form has a syncretic nature. Medieval scholars also first millennium CE; in Japan by the 10th–11th had their own reflections on the term “comedy.” In centuries; and in China by the 14th–15th centuries. particular, the renowned scholar Abu Nasr al-Farabi, who possessed deep knowledge of the world’s science,