The glorious Gilgamesh and the sorceress Medea, the noble Ivanhoe and the two-faced Dorian Gray, the frivolous Manon Lescaut and the ambitious Julien Sorel, the protective hero Taras Bulba and the “uncertain” Chichikov, the wise Santiago and the glorious soldier Vasily Terkin... Literary heroes appear in our world, to dwell in it forever, create and actively influence our minds. The author of the book is V.N. Eremin discusses the main ideas that this or that literary hero brought to our world, how his image developed in the public consciousness and what he represents today. The author has his own original view on the topic under discussion, often contrary to the opinion accepted in traditional literary criticism.