The purpose of this work is to reveal the influence of the tradition of antique biographic literature, especially the works of Plutarch, the classic of the genre and the founder of modern understanding of biography, on the emergence and development of the novel genre. By using the comparative and textual method, we come to the conclusion that the antique biography, as represented by Plutarch, had a significant influence on the genre of the novel. This concerns not only its historical and biographic versions, where it is more noticeable. Since Alexander the Great was the favorite hero of biographies (both surviving and those that have not reached us), we have chosen as an example Ivan Efremov's novel «Tais of Athens», which was based on an episode from the life of Alexander the Great confirmed by ancient historians.
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