The novel The Stranger by the Polish writer M. Kuncewicz, written almost a century ago, is traditionally considered autobiographical. The author of the article proves that the autobiographical nature of this work, created in the realities of pre-revolutionary Samara, is of a different kind. In the images of the main characters and in the biographies of their prototypes, one can recognize M. Kuncewicz’s parents – I.A. and A.A. Shchepanskys. However, describing the setting of several key episodes of the novel, the writer deliberately avoids mentioning Samara. Creating the outline of the novel, M. Kuncewicz turned the (auto) biographical aspect to the other side to the reader; which resulted in the face of the biographical drawing becoming invisible, but its “wrong side” becoming the basis of the plot movement, being originally used to build the “mirror images” of the heroes, serving as a means of organizing artistic time and space.