Literary life in the USSR was organized in such a way that it left little opportunity for its participants to select a line of creative behavior: the subordination to strict ideological and aesthetic requirements - work "into the desk drawer" - emigration – silence. However, the types of personal and creative behavior were qualitatively different among writers. The paper analyses one of the symptomatic, but not too typical, cases – that of Valentin Kataev. During his long literary life (1912 - 1986) he wrote ten volumes of literary texts, some of which became classic of Russian literature. His outstanding talent is recognized both by readers and experts, but he has an enduring negative reputation of a conformist and a cynic. The author suggests that Kataev’s discredit among the opposite part of society was a part of his behavioral strategy to avoid more serious political charges. Demonstrative conformism which didn’t match the accepted rules of behavior was a specific form of Kataev’s self-defense that allowed him to remain relatively artistically independent in the face of fierce ideological and aesthetic pressures.