The paper investigates M. V. Avdeev’s reputation, the circumstances that have influenced its formation as well as some strategies, aimed at its consolidation. The reputation of an epigone, acquired n his lifetime, is frequently explained by a «scrappy» character of his works (which is reflected in the synchronous, but not interconnected reviews of I. S. Turgenev and N. G. Chernyshevsky). However, of no small importance in the formation of this reputation was the role, played by his own life-creating strategies, as well as the search for an alternative way in the Russian literature. The game character, directed at entertaining the reader (the story «The Mountains»), the startling recognition of his unoriginality and second-rate role in literature (the trilogy «Tamarin») as well as the non-acceptance of literature as artificiality and affectation (the story «The Clear Days») provoked, anticipated an appropriate reaction of literary critics and readers. Meanwhile, the game character, affirming a particular hierarchy of the author, hero, and reader’s capabilities, as a rule, was not taken into account by critics and contemporaries. The paper analyzes not only M. V. Avdeev’s works, but also popular sources (modern editions and popular encyclopedias) which make it possible to get an idea about the modern status of this writer in the history of Russian literature.