The article is devoted to the study of reading activity as a key mechanism for the formation of meaning and interpretation of a literary text. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a systematic analysis of the role of the recipient in the process of the literary work's existence, which corresponds to the modern trends in literary studies focused on receptive aesthetics and the theory of interpretation. Based on the prose of S.P. Shevchenko, the article analyzes specific forms and strategies of reader activity that allow one to move from the perception of linguistic signs to the construction of a holistic artistic picture. Special attention is paid to identifying the structural components of reading activity – cognitive, emotional, and associative – that determine the depth and nature of the author's chroniclehistorical prose. The paper examines mechanisms such as the reconstruction of historical context, ethical verification of the events described, and intertextual association, which relates to V. Iser's ideas about the "voids" of the text and the active role of the reader, as well as U. Eco's concept of the cooperative nature of interpretation. The paper distinguishes between the subjectivity of the reader's perception and the objective framework set by the poetics of chronicle narration, which allows for a description of the boundaries of acceptable interpretation. As a result of the study, the main models of interpretation of S. P. Shevchenko's prose texts are specified and typologized. It is proved that reading is not a passive act of perception, but a multi-level creative process that is integrated into the semantic structure of a work and determines the finalization of its artistic meaning.