To convince a modern person, especially a young person, to get acquainted with 200- year-old fiction texts, on the one hand, and to organize study activities with them, on the other, is a diffcult task, the solution of which requires comprehension and various approaches. Vladimir I. Dahl isn't considered to be one of the first row Russian writers of the 19th century, nevertheless, discovering his works is meaningful because they reflect the core questions of human existence, demonstrating the inviolability of the traditional system of values. The literary work of V. I. Dahl has a historical and cultural value; it expands our understanding of the multidimensional and dynamic 19th century. An indisputable argument in favor of studying V. Dahl's fiction texts is their linguistic value, since they were penned by a person who had collected words all his life. The choice of texts for in-depth reading and analysis should be determined by the specific tasks assigned to the readers.