This article explores the radical transformation of the heroic archetype in contemporary literature, specifically tracing the evolutionary shift from the classical "Epic Doer" to the fragmented "Postmodern Wanderer." Through a rigorous comparative analysis of Hamid Ismailov’s Mbobo (The Underground) and Victor Pelevin’s Chapaev and Pustota (Buddha's Little Finger), the study examines the mechanisms by which the traditional hero’s journey – as defined by Joseph Campbell’s monomyth – is systematically subverted and deconstructed.

The research demonstrates a dual trajectory of this archetypal shift: while Ismailov’s protagonist embodies a rhizomatic wandering through the tangible physical and cultural debris of a collapsed Soviet empire, Pelevin’s hero represents an ontological wandering through the hallucinatory "void" of a fractured consciousness. By utilizing a transdisciplinary framework that incorporates post-structuralist theory, semiotics, and hauntology, the study reveals how both authors redefine the heroic matrix. Ultimately, the paper argues that the contemporary hero no longer seeks a definitive "boon" or a return to a stable social order, but instead exists in a state of permanent ontological transition, where the act of wandering itself becomes the only authentic response to a world of exhausted meta-narratives.

Archetypal matrix, Epic Hero, Postmodern Wanderer

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