The authors talk about two extremes in organizing the work of schoolchildren with a literary text: encouraging naive realism and training in literary analysis of the text. Five methodological principles of the organization of work with a literary text are outlined: 1) attention to behavioral triggers and moral guidelines of students; 2) refusal to encourage knowledge of the text in favor of encouraging understanding of the text; 3) integration of anti-examples into the lesson as a didactic technique; 4) evaluation of results using the criterion of «dialogue with the author»; 5) cultivation of thoughtful reading without inflections in the factual text and literary criticism. The leading aspects of the reader’s cognitive motivation are revealed: motivation through novelty develops well–readedness; through self-knowledge reflexivity; through interaction - sociability. The results of a survey of literature teachers are presented: 15 respondents from 4 educational organizations in Moscow, shortcomings in the organization of work with the text are revealed: deactualization of educational tasks; focus on speech development instead of personality development; lack of connection with the techniques of understanding learning; reduction of the variability of the arguments of the author’s position based on various units of literary text. New approaches to working with literary text are considered taking into account pedagogical hermeneutics, the theory of dialogue of cultures and psychodidactics. The directions of professional development of literature teachers are justified from the standpoint of the subjectivity of a student comprehending the quasi-reality of a literary text. The key task of working with the text is to foster interest in the artistic text as a means of self–knowledge.