EN
The article presents essential problems connected with analysis and interpretation of memoirs.While discussing the memoirs about Leo Tolstoy by Julian Odakhovski which were recordedand published by Alexander Zhirkevich, as well as appraised as unreliable by Tolstoy, we posesuch questions as e.g. the role of the publisher, the point of view of the memoirist and of theprotagonist, a fact in such autobiographical text. Special attention is given to possible reasons forTolstoy’s reaction to the memoirs by Odakhovski.