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Abstract: The article discusses some aspects of creative works by I. Bunin, I. Shmelyov, B. Zaitsev, V. Khodasevich, A. Remizov and V. Nabokov devoted to the Russian writers of the XIXth century. Those works are viewed as a result of émigré writers’ desire to “fit in” the authoritative cultural forms, models and types. It is reflected both in “appropriation” of known literary plots and skills and in aspiration for “impersonating” classical writers themselves. Some psychoanalytic premises of the desire to impersonate a predecessor are commented as well as basic methods of autoprojective modelling of images. In particular, the article deliberates on approximating the facts of one’s biography with predecessor’s life, which is done by I. Bunin in his “The Liberation of Tolstoy”. Certain aspects of V. Khodasevich’s self-portrait transpire in the biography of A. Pushkin and some articles dedicated to Pushkin studies. The author argues that I. Shmelyov had adopted some motives and stylistic methods of F. Dostoevskiy’s writings by extrapolating the emblematic features of the prophet-writer on his own personality. “Turgenev’s Life” by B. Zaytsev is reviewed from a similar position: the author of “Fathers and Sons” is presented as a religious mystic. Another example is “The Fire of Things” by A. Remisov propagating a metaliterary myth about N. Gogol. The key elements of this myth may be viewed as a secret manifestation of A. Remizov’s inner artistic self. The final conclusion is that metaliterary reflection has become one of the most influential stylistic tendencies in Russian Literature of the first half of the XX century especially in its emigre wing.