Selected materials of a virtual round-table session devoted to reminiscences about Sergey G. Bocharov (1929-2017) and discussion of his academic interests and achievements. B. Egorov remembers meeting and keeping in touch with Bocharov, as well as new friends he made through him. Y. Mann elaborates on the ideological challenges to Soviet philology and on the role played by Bakhtin, Gogol, and Platonov in forming Bocharov’s own personality. D. Urnov reflects on the nature of Bocharov’s philological talent and the time when they both worked at the Department of Literary Theory in IMLI (Institute of the World Literature). L. Szilard reminisces about her student days at the Moscow State University and her friendship with Sergey and Irina Bocharov, which had lasted a lifetime from the 1950s. E. Dmitrieva considers the subject of Gogol as developed in Bocharov’s articles, and on the latter’s work to produce a complete collection of Gogol’s writings. V. Kotelnikov brings up the topic of K. Leontiev as perceived by Bocharov. P. Glushakov chooses to revisit Bocharov’s main ideas – for example, his concept of genetic memory of literature – and illustrates it with an extensive discussion of the duel, gunshot, and revenge in works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Chekhov, and Shukshin.