The article attempts to define methodological principles for the analysis of models of communicative situations in artistic prose. For this purpose, the provisions of the theory of communication, most important for linguistics (first of all, these are the views of L. Wittgenstein and some other foreign scientists of the ХХ century), are investigated. On the basis of the analyzed views, three principles are singled out, which determine the methodological nature of the interpretation of communicative situations presented in artistic prose: anthropocentric, system-activity and information.