The article is devoted to the problem of implementation of hermeneutical approach to the text. The author who has worked with students of philological faculty for more than 25 years is concerned about the tendency of a pragmatic approach to the text of an artistic work which manifests in the fact that a modern student-reader refers to the work often without entering into a mental dialogue with the author of the text but only watches the development of events. The result of this reading is the lack of own interpretation of the text, inability to determine the role of symbolic details, highlight the author's position. As a way out the author offers practical classes in literature based on the hermeneutical approach to the text.