MODELING FANTASTIC REALITY IN LITERARY DISCOURSE: MECHANISMS OF WORLD-BUILDING IN THE WORKS OF XOJAKBAR SHAYKHOV AND H. G. WELLS

This article examines the mechanisms through which fantastic reality is modeled in literary discourse, using the works of Xojakbar Shaykhov and H. G. Wells as comparative material. The study focuses on world-building, cognitive estrangement, scientific plausibility, narrative focalization, and the ethical function of the fantastic. It argues that both writers construct alternative realities not by rejecting the real world but by transforming its scientific, social, and moral coordinates. Wells builds fantastic worlds through the logic of experiment, technological hypothesis, and social projection, while Shaykhov combines scientific imagination with moral didacticism, national-cultural sensitivity, and humanistic reflection. The article demonstrates that fantastic reality emerges as a dynamic discourse model in which the reader is invited to compare empirical reality with a speculative version of it.