This article examines how Soviet-era literary canons were reinterpreted in the legitimation of national doctrines in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan during 1991-2016. It focuses on Mukhtar Auezov’s The Way of Abai and Oybek’s Navoi as inherited cultural resources whose political meanings changed after independence. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a qualitative comparative synthesis of literary material and published research on nationalism, cultural memory, and Soviet cultural institutions. A constructivist framework guides comparison of literary representations, official narratives, and the institutional settings of canonization. Recent scholarship is used to reconsider the historical period, rather than to extend the comparison to contemporary political developments. Findings: Both cases indicate that the authority acquired by canonical works under Soviet cultural policy could be retained while their ideological interpretation changed. Kazakhstan’s comparatively inclusive and continuity-oriented discourse and Uzbekistan’s stronger emphasis on recovery of pre-Soviet heritage represent relative policy orientations, not exhaustive categories or fixed national characteristics. The analysis distinguishes the novels from their historical protagonists and from educational and commemorative institutions that circulate their meanings. It identifies institutional continuity and selective ideological reinterpretation as complementary mechanisms; it does not establish measured effects on audience identification. Originality: The contribution is a comparison of how inherited literary authority and cultural institutions supported divergent interpretations of national history without requiring wholesale replacement of the Soviet canon. The framework can inform research on cultural policy and educational representations of literary heritage, while keeping claims about political legitimation separate from evidence of reception.