The book considers the principles and techniques of analyzing a literary work as a basis for interpreting a complete artistic whole. It presents a system of theoretical literary concepts—traditional ones and those that entered academic usage relatively recently (the world of the work, frame, viewpoint, iteratives, nonverbal dialogue, archetype, addressee, mass literature, etc.). Their functions and interrelations are traced through selected analyses of classical and contemporary artistic texts. The textbook can be useful to literary scholars, literary critics, journalists, and anyone interested in the problems of literary studies.