Mythological criticism applied to Spotted dog running along the seashore novel by Ch. Aitmatov

This paper identifies the role of mythology in Spotted Dog Running Along the Seashore Novel by Ch. Aitmatov. The aim of the study is to apply mythological criticism to the novel, to find related myths and legends in the story, to interpret their roles, and to underline Aitmatov’s style of writing through his use of cultural mythology of certain folk. In order to complete the research on the topic, a critical analysis was done on the main myths of the novel. During the conduct of the analysis, it was revealed that the symbols used by the author do coincide with the world symbols. For example, in the book, Luvr duck symbolizes the parental sacrifice for the sake of the future chick, the same way as universal symbols, where the duck is a symbol of family happiness, and fertility. Thus, the importance of Aitmatov's usage of myth in the literary work, with the help of which he introduces other cultures and nations to his folk and vice versa, is obvious due to the research paper done. The reason is that it’s exactly the most distinctive feature of his writing style.