This article explores the features of the autobiographical novel and gives a brief overview of the history of the appearance of the autobiography and the debate about it as an independent literary genre. The emphasis here is on revealing the elements of autobiography in the first novel by the writer of the first wave of emigration Gaito Gazdanov “An evening with Claire” in the framework of the criteria typical for the poetics of memoirs and autobiographical prose. For this work, the autobiographical pact, principles of which were defined by the theorist of autobiography Philippe Lejeune has special significance.