The basic hypothesis of the paper is that the works of V. Nabokov and M. Zoshchenko might be compared at least from two perspectives. Albeit being completely different in terms of writing techniques both authors used certain stylistic masks. Nabokov considered such camouflage as a means of hiding his true identity behind the figure of his representative – a gifted protagonist – and infiltrated into the text only as an “anthropomorphic god”. Zoshchenko tried to refresh Russian literary tradition and was deeply interested in new “folk” voices that сropped out after the Revolution of 1917. Above all, both writers created autobiographical narratives with strong metaliterary undercurrent (‘Other Shores’ and ‘Before Sunrise’). In order to reveal the meaning of their lives, the authors referred to fundamentally opposite strategies. While Nabokov counted on exclusively creative comprehension of his fate that was organized as a piece of art, Zoschenko believed in scientific, i. e. psychophysiological, methods of self-interpretation. We assume that these approaches are significant not only for these writers be regarded as the hallmarks of Russian and World literature of the 20th century – in its interference with the concepts from related fields of knowledge.