REFLECTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN M. YUNUS’ STORY "OUR HOUSE WAS UNDER THE WILLOWS"
Based on the story “Our House Was under the Willows”, the article considers the issue of national identity in the works of M. Yunus. The story reflects the specificity of Tatar national identity at the level of the plot, ideas, problems, and characters. The national mentality is expressed by means of linguistic, conceptual and artistic devices, which the author uses based on the meta-narratives of the nation. In the story, the national identity is represented in the images associated with the constants of the picture of the world iconic for Tatar culture, its forms of manifestation being national concepts, stereotypes, ideals, and specific features of the national character. The historical discourse of the story is determined by the trauma of forced migration. The pain, caused by the separation from the homeland, is reflected in the mentality and encoded in the collective consciousness. When analyzing the story, we took into account historical and political circumstances of the time, as the aggravation of the national consciousness is connected with ideological discourse, motivating the nature of the conflict. The author challenges the popular stereotypical opinion of the Crimean Tatars and points out the common historical and ethnic origin of the Kazan and Crimean Tatars. Using the fundamental constants of national identity, the author focuses on the issue of the Tatar people’s national tragedy connected with forced emigration.