The article reveals the author’s position that there is a difference between classical and post-modern literary studies from the point of view of cultural-philosophical analysis of the deepest artistic meanings and purposes of literary works, as well as the change in the philosophy of literary education and teaching practices. Classical Russian and foreign literature is characterized by penetration inside the subtext of a literary work, and the process of literary interiorization is associated with the author’s attitude to the depicted events. In postmodernism, there is a rethinking of the principles of classical literary studies, associated with the impact of the rapidly changing world on the humans, and the dependence of perception of these changes on the condition and mood of the reader, their personal problems. Here comes the question of relationship between literature, culture and the surrounding world, the question of artistic exteriorization — the transformation of images, their analysis and evaluation in external forms, outside of which the artwork does not exist. The development of the “screen culture”, the resulting visualization of images and verbal dominant decay lead to formation of new relationships between the word and the visual image, enriching the perception and revealing additional shades of meaning. Their study becomes the subject of a new scientific direction — “perceptive cultural studies”, which increasingly influence the educational space. The comprehension of literature as an educational process in general requires collective cooperation of the teacher and the student, and their mutual relation and relation with the reality determine the type of education and the direction of educational technology upgrade, including the training of teachers. The teaching methods should be directed to the search for artistic meanings from the point of view of their ability to humanize the society and the world in general.