Polyphonic Modifications Of The Relationship Between The Authorial Voice And The Character’s Voice In English And Uzbek Prose

Abstract

Polyphony in prose is not limited to the presence of many characters or frequent dialogue; it is an aesthetic organization of voices in which authorial discourse and character discourse interact, compete, overlap, and transform each other. This article examines how the relationship between the authorial voice and the character’s voice is modified in English and Uzbek prose through different narrative strategies and stylistic traditions. Grounded in Bakhtin’s concept of the polyphonic novel and supplemented by narratological accounts of voice and discourse representation (Genette; Fludernik), the study develops a comparative framework for describing voice relations across two literary systems. Using qualitative close reading as a method, the article compares typical patterns of polyphonic modulation in selected English prose (nineteenth- and twentieth-century traditions of authorial commentary, irony, and free indirect discourse) and Uzbek prose (realist and socially oriented narratives with strong evaluative authorial presence, alongside later tendencies toward internal focalization and conversational heteroglossia). The results show that English prose often intensifies polyphony by “withdrawing” the authorial voice into irony, focalization shifts, and free indirect discourse, whereas Uzbek prose more frequently produces polyphonic effects by allowing authorial evaluation to coexist with competing social voices, registers, and worldview positions within the same narrative space. The article argues that polyphonic modification is best understood as a continuum of authorial distance and character autonomy, shaped by historical experience, linguistic resources, and genre expectations.