There is considered one of the popular plots of the second half of the XIX century – appearance and arrest of a famous impostor Princess Tarakanova. There is researched the essence of the phenomenon of imposture, proved that in the novel by E.A. Salias de Turnemir imposture is the reaction to the events that are happening.

There are considered the peculiarities of fiction historicism of the novel by R.M. Zotov. There is concluded that the combination of historicism and adventurism is characteristic for this work.

By the example of the novels by K.P.Massalsky, P.M.Zotov, E.P.Karnovich and D.L.Mordovtsev about the reign of Csarevna Sophia there is considered the fiction of XIX century as a whole range of self-sufficient texts with metatext characteristics: literature centrism, text centrism, secondary data and communicativeness. There is proved the urgency and perspectives of such an approach to historical Romance studies.