Fascinating essays by Sergei Makeev "Persons and Characters" resemble a literary and detective "investigation": the reader, together with the author, follows the footsteps of real people who served as prototypes of famous literary characters. Robinson Crusoe, Cyrano de Bergerac, Manon Lescaut, Count Monte- Cristo, Captain Nemo and many other famous heroes of the books are inspired by the characters and destinies of people who really lived once.