The autobiographical literature of Z. A. Shakhovskaya reflects the historical and cultural events of the XX century. The predestination of the positions of a “witness” and a “participant” of the historical past of the Russian diaspora is initially traced in Shakhovskaya's memoirs “Reflections” (1975), and then fully illustrated in the main autobiography of the writer – “This is my Century” (2006), which consists of four books of memoirs. The uniqueness of the tetralogy of Z. Shakhovskoy's “This is my Century" lies in the fact that autobiography is poorly studied in Russian literary studies and has never been considered from the point of view of the author's perception of history. Therefore, this article attempts to show the vision of the history of the XX century in an autobiographical work through the author's comments and reflections.