In The Gift Strannolyubski is Chernyshevski's fictitious biographer. The author of the Life of Chernyshevski, Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev wonders if the critic is not a son of Strannolyubski to whose country house Chernyshevski's son Sasha (who was fascinated by pure mathematics) moved in 1888:

"...and, by now utterly destitute, he moved to the country house of Strannolyubski (the critic's father?)." (Chapter Four)

A prominent public figure and teacher, Aleksandr Nikolaevich Strannolyubski (1839-1903) gave lessons to Chernyshevski's children who were raised by A. N. Pypin, Chernyshevski's first cousin. He was also a teacher of Sofia Kovalevski (1850-91), the celebrated mathematician who mentions Strannolyubski her Childhood Reminiscences (1890):

Когда, много лет спустя, уже пятнадцатилетней девочкой, я брала первый урок дифференциального исчисления у известного преподавателя математики в Петербурге, Александра Николаевича Страннолюбского, он удивился, как скоро я охватила и усвоила себе понятия о пределе и о производной, «точно я наперёд их знала». (chapter V: "My Uncle Pyotr Vasilievich")