During the 97 years that I. Z. Serman, the world-famous historian of Russian literature of the 18th century, lived, he repeatedly had to start his life over: after the Patriotic War, where he went as an ordinary soldier, after returning from the Gulag, after being expelled from the Pushkin House and departure to Israel. But no life disasters could force the scientist not to do what he loved - the history of Russian literature. The results of scientific activity over three quarters of a century are partially reflected in the proposed collection, compiled by I. Z. Serman during his lifetime. Along with works about the influence of Derzhavin’s odic style on Mayakovsky’s poetry and the metamorphoses of the perception of Fonvizin’s plays, we read about the literary interests of Peter the Great, about the “theater” of Sergei Dovlatov, about the struggle between Slavophiles and Westerners, and much more. Works of different content and style create a mosaic picture of three centuries of Russian literature that can surprise and interest even a sophisticated reader.