This article examines stereotypes of national mentality using the example of V. M. Shukshins story Conversations on a Clear Moon and provides examples of these deformations. It is noted that reduced intelligence is a distinctive feature of all characters. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that, in essence, the heroes of Shukshins later works live not so much in the world of symbols, but in the world of simulacra - signs without relation to the referent.