2451-4985 Sergey Arno’s Personal Comments on the Value of Literature and the Function of Literary Criticism Incorporated in His Works Brążkiewicz Bartłomiej author Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie 03bqmcz70 Correspondence to: Bartłomiej Brążkiewicz bartlomiej.brazkiewicz@uj.edu.pl 22 12 2023 Tom XIX 2023 69 82 Copyright © 2023 2023 <p>On the one hand, Sergey Arno’s prose stands out due to its black humour, full of paradoxical thoughts and absurd imaginations, but on the other hand, it deals with the condition of literature, its function, value, and literary criticism (i.e. its assessment). Apart from addressing literary subjects, his works relatively often reveal autobiographical and self-referential elements. For this reason, it is possible to extract from Arno’s texts fragments investigating the value of literature and its assessment that can be identified with the author’s own position. This article is an attempt to reconstruct the writer’s views based on four of his works in prose: three fictional pieces and one non-fiction book.</p> 1 Arno S., Epidemiia grafomanii – ugroza chelovechestvu? [Epidemic of Talentless Writing – A Threat to Humanity?], “Literaturnaia gazeta” [Literary Gazette] 2008, no. 14 (2 April), p. 15. 2 Arno S., Frederik Riuish i ego deti. Roman [Frederik Ruysch and His Children. Novel], St. Petersburg, Soiuz Pisatelei Sankt-Peterburga, 2012. 3 Arno S., Istoriia literaturnogo protsessa ot dvortsa Sheremetevykh do shveinykh masterskikh. Leningrad–Peterburg [History of the Literary Process From the Sheremetev Palace to Sewing Workshops. Leningrad–St. Petersburg], St. Petersburg, Soiuz pisatelei Peterburga, 2020, 164 pp. 4 Arno S., Mertvye sami znaiut otchego. Istorii peterburgskoi nechisti [The Dead Themselves Know Why. Stories of the St Petersburg Evil], [in:] Idem, Vosstanie slov [Rise of Words], St. Petersburg, Soiuz pisatelei Peterburga 2020, pp. 3–92. 5 Arno S., Smiritel’naia rubashka dlia geniev. Roman-bred [Strait Jacket for Geniuses. A Nonsensical Novel], St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Soiuza pisatelei Sankt-Peterburga, 2012, 272 pp. 6 Brążkiewicz B., Ku tajemnicy życia wiecznego. Piotr I i Frederik Ruysch w historyczno-fantastycznej powieści S. Arno „Фредерик Рюйш и его дети” [Toward the Mystery of Eternal Life. Peter the Great and Frederik Ruysch in S. Arno’s Historical Fantasy “Frederik Riuish i Ego Deti”], [in:] Sacrum świata wschodniego i zachodniego w kulturze słowiańszczyzny. Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis. Acta Slavica [The Sacred of the Eastern and Western Worlds in Slavic Culture. Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis. Acta Slavica], vol. 17, C. Nelkowski, E. Harendarska (Eds.), Bydgoszcz, Filharmonia Pomorska im. Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego w Bydgoszczy, 2014, pp. 441–449. 7 Brążkiewicz B., W zderzeniu z teraźniejszością. Dialogiczność współczesnej prozy petersburskiej [Confronting the Present Time: A Dialogic Nature of the Contemporary Petersburg Text], “Ethos” 2020, no. 1(129), pp. 91–116. 8 Czermińska M., Autobiografia i powieść, czyli pisarz i jego postacie [An Autobiography and a Novel, or the Writer and His Characters], Gdańsk, Wydawnictwo Morskie, 1987, 204 pp. 9 Dudina I., Prosonochnoe sostoianie [Prosleep State], “Avrora” [Aurora] 2018, no. 2, pp. 122–125. 10 Eliot T.S., Notes towards the Definition of Culture, London, Faber and Faber Limited, 1948, 124 pp. 11 Lem S., A Perfect Vacuum, trans. from the Polish by M. Kandel, Evanston [USA], 12 Northwestern University Press, 1999, 229 pp. 13 Leś M.M., Paradoks i precyzja. Studia o fantastyce naukowej [Paradox and Precision. Studies in Science Fiction], Białystok, Temida 2, 2020, 270 pp. 14 Ritzer G., The McDonaldization of Society 6, Thousand Oaks [USA], SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011, 307 pp.