The paper considers the formally substantial structure of the novella «Greta and Tank»: it traces the interaction of the novelistic genre laws (the role of an incident, the plot dynamics, the sudden outcome) and of the artistic self-reflection understood as the presence in the text of reflections about the principles of creating a text. Study is made of the system of characters,
organization of subjects, correlation of the consciousness of the narrator and that of the heroessayist. Analysis is made of the rough copy of the story from Bakhmeteff Archive (USA), revealing the function of marginalia that create an ironic mode of narration. As a result, a conclusion is made that the novella «Greta and Tank» is a unique experience among Aldanov’s short stories: the reevaluation of the author’s strategy became his key intention.