In the article the publications of the literary critic and historian Andrey Nemzer which appeared in the 1980s in the journal Literaturnoye obozreniye (Literary review) are analyzed. The articles of this period dealt more with historical and literary works and to a smaller degree with literary-artistic ones. The aim of this work is to identify the author’s status. A range of arguments is off ered proving that Nemzer’s contributions on the pages of the journal are strictly of literary-critical nature. The key feature is the evaluative statement which is most pronounced in negative comments. Diff erent techniques of the author’s self-expression are shown. The literary critic is revealed to have been liable to open emotionality which becomes evident when he defi nes an important social role of a book. The emotional coloring of expressions and the autobiographical component are noted. The structures are defi ned that help the literary critic render his feelings and achieve the dramatic quality of what has been said. There is a focus on the role of the prospective reader of the books under review. A. Nemzer addresses an amateur reader, tries to bond with him and hold his attention. The article considers publications, in which the features of the literary-critical essay are reduced: these are reviews dedicated to A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s works, Solzhenitsyn’s oeuvre being the object of Nemzer’s research interest. It is noted that these articles are distinguished by their length, by the presence of footnotes, by extensive reasoning, calm narrative tone, although, the author’s subjective view is still perceptible. It is this very journal, Literaturnoye obozreniye of the 1980s, that faces the formation of Nemzer as a literary critic. In the years ahead, the particulars of his early works would become blurred, his oeuvre would be outlined with new forms and would become entirely in keeping with the time.