The Problem of the Bipolar Personality in the Contemporary Postmodern Azerbaijani Novel

This article examines the problem of the bipolar personality in the contemporary postmodern Azerbaijani novel through psychoanalytic and literary-theoretical perspectives. The study aims to analyze how identity fragmentation, internal psychological conflict, and dual consciousness are represented in postmodern Azerbaijani prose within broader cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts. Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung, the research interprets bipolarity as both an individual psychological condition and a symbolic manifestation of collective memory and cultural transformation. The methodology combines psychoanalytic literary criticism with comparative textual analysis. Selected works by prominent Azerbaijani writers — including Kamal Abdulla, Elchin, Movlud Suleymanli, Agil Abbas, Yusif Samadoglu, and Ilgar Fahmi — are examined to identify recurring narrative patterns of divided identity, archetypal conflict, and mythopoetic symbolism. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between conscious and unconscious dimensions of the self, as well as to the transformation of classical myths and historical memory within postmodern narrative structures. The analysis demonstrates that bipolar personality in contemporary Azerbaijani fiction functions not merely as a psychological motif but as a structural and aesthetic principle shaping narrative form, character construction, and symbolic language. Postmodern protagonists appear as fragmented subjects positioned between past and present, myth and reality, individual agency and collective expectations. The study reveals that social transformations following political and cultural transitions intensify identity crises, resulting in literary characters who simultaneously embody trauma, existential search, and ironic self-reflection. The findings suggest that bipolarity becomes a dominant artistic model of the modern individual in Azerbaijani postmodern literature. In Freudian terms, it reflects the ego’s struggle to reconcile conflicting psychic forces, while in Jungian theory it represents confrontation with the shadow as a path toward individuation. Consequently, the contemporary Azerbaijani postmodern novel constructs identity not as a stable entity but as a dynamic process shaped by psychological tension, cultural memory, and philosophical inquiry.