DESIRE AND SILENCE IN KHURSHID DOSTMUHAMMAD’S SHORT STORY “WO AI NI”

Abstract

This article examines Khurshid Dostmuhammadʼs short story “WO AI NI” as a significant example of contemporary Uzbek prose that explores linguistic alienation, cross-cultural encounter, and the existential dimensions of human desire. The study situates the story within the context of globalization and urban modernity, focusing on the psychological experience of loneliness, migration, and the limits of communication. Drawing on Roman Jakobsonʼs communication theory, the article interprets the absence of a shared linguistic code as the central dramatic conflict of the narrative. Heideggerʼs conception of language as the “house of Being” is employed to demonstrate how the failure of communication reveals deeper ontological ruptures rather than mere technical misunderstandings. Through Edward Saidʼs concept of the Other and Bakhtinʼs notion of exotopy, the Chinese character is analyzed as a reflective mirror for the protagonistʼs self-alienation. Particular attention is given to Jacques Lacanʼs psychoanalytic theory of desire, which elucidates how distance, opacity, and non-possession intensify emotional attachment. The Chinese phrase “WO AI NI” is interpreted as a symbolic sign whose power derives from its resistance to full translation and assimilation. The article argues that the story transforms linguistic incomprehension into an aesthetic and philosophical resource, positioning “WO AI NI” as a sophisticated meditation on silence, desire, and the ethics of otherness in modern literature.