The article reveals the typology of «final event» in the structure of the autobiographical text. The universality of the way mother image being idealized and the use of her death motif as a sign denoting the end of childhood enable to stress the dominant idea of the author's style. The motif of mother's death reveals the artists' style singularity and pathos which are expressed in methods of "verbal painting": portrait and iconographic. The realistic portrait (L.N. Tolstoy) transmits romantic attitude to death. The naturalistic portrait (M. Gorkii) lessens the pathos of death grandeur. The singularity of N.S. Leskov's style is materialized in icon-painting techniques.