Russian and world literature has created a gallery of immortal images. Dreamer Cyrano de Bergerac and tyrannoborets Carl Moor, scholar-wrestler Captain Nemo and Bulgarian patriot Insarov... How were the images of these heroes born, in what connection with historical events, what made them close, dear to us? What is the secret of their immortality? The author will answer these and many other questions using the example of samples of classical literature. The previous book of the same author, "What Books Kept Silent About," which began the conversation about the prototypes of literary heroes, has already won the recognition of readers and received the approval of the press.