The subject of the study is "The Forged Coupon", one of the later stories by L. N. Tolstoy. The article considers how Tolstoy’s main discoveries are implemented in the text from the standpoint of constructing a literary narrative. The article presents the novella from the perspective of the writer’s creative mastery evolution. The research employed end-to-end text sampling, semasiological analysis based on lexicographic sources, subtext explication techniques. The study also used psycholinguistic approaches to examine the emotional pattern of the text. The ideological plane of the content is interpreted by identifying key words (heuristemes). The article characterises the dynamics of the narration pace, the nature of the development of the compositional plot lines. It also reveals fragments of a convoluted, compressed narrative and compositional parts based on precedent texts. The study demonstrates L. N. Tolstoy’s techniques for semantic extension of vocabulary and attaching additional connotations to the usual meanings of lexemes. In addition, the paper characterises the forms of syntactic constructions and a special kind of Tolstoy’s tale (or skaz), as well as reveals the semantic charge of foreign inclusions. The research shows the continuity between the mature and late Tolstoy’s style in highlighting a significant artistic detail, embodying the inconsistency of human thinking and emotional states. The article evaluates the influence of the late Tolstoy’s style on the formation of artistic and literary aesthetics of the 20th century.