EN
From the earliest times, people have been bending over the issue of death, trying to reach its essence. Therefore, death has become one of the leading literary motifs. The article analyses human attitudes towards death depicted in short prose forms of Mikhail Artsybashev. The writer took the position that the mystery of death is impenetrable and all attempts to discover it do not bring any expected results. The essence of death can be reached neither by mind nor through any mystical knowledge. It just needs to be accepted.