This study investigates how mythological archetypes from Turkic oral epic traditions undergo transformation, recodification, and symbolic re-deployment in the contemporary literary production of Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, and Turkish writers (1940s–2020s). Building on the theoretical framework of mythological code analysis (Lévi-Strauss), archetypal transformation theory (Jung, Neumann), and postcolonial literary criticism (Bhabha, Said), the research analyses twenty-three literary works in which pre-Islamic Turkic mythological figures — Tengri, the Alp hero, Umay Ana, Albasti, the Cosmic Tree, and the Underworld motif — are identifiably redeployed as literary symbols. Six transformation typologies are identified and systematised: continuation, secularisation, inversion, hybridisation, politicisation, and aestheticisation. The analysis reveals that mythological archetypes function as a persistent cultural grammar that authors consciously activate to negotiate tensions between national identity, Soviet-era ideological imposition, postcolonial recovery, and globalisation. These findings contribute to comparative literary studies, Turkic cultural studies, and the theory of mythological transformation in modern literature.

Mythological transformation, Turkic literature, archetype

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