Polysemy of a literary text as a violation of the "horizon of expectation"

This article examines such a category of literary criticism as the «horizon of expectation». This term was introduced into scientific use by H.R. Jauss within the framework of the school of «receptive aesthetics». The article is an attempt to correlate this category with the problem of polysemy of a literary text. The article demonstrates the dependence of the understanding of the text on a certain «horizon of expectation». Polysemy is considered primarily as a violation of the «horizon of expectation».