Abstract. The article examines the method of “author-trace analysis” as one of the effective approaches to studying a literary work in school and higher literary pedagogy. This method makes it possible to trace the writer’s creative intent and reconstruct the causal relationships between the author’s biography, the historical-cultural context, and the content of the text. Special attention is paid to the stages of analysis: reconstruction of the author’s position, identification of artistic dominants, and determination of the author’s worldview and aesthetic guidelines. The significance of the method in developing students’ reading competence, analytical and critical thinking is demonstrated.