This article discusses the prospect of a non-quantitative method - mathematical modeling - for studying literary plots. As an example, the authors analyze the dynamics of two typologically similar romantic plots: Ivan Turgenev's "Vernal Waters" and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's "Venus in Furs". The combination of literary critical analysis and mathematical modeling allows for a much more objective reproduction of the space-time dynamics of the romantic (in this case, masochistic) relationships in the works. This method for textual analysis, unlike "distant reading", presents both a supplement and an alter native to the traditional method of "close reading".