Abstract: The subject of this study is the history of the concept of "authorial commentary" in Russian literary criticism of the 1920s and 30s. The moment of the appearance of its actual word form, as well as its equivalent, "auto-commentary", is recorded. The key research method is historical semantics, which provides a methodological framework for combining the semantic, pragmatic analysis of the concept of "author's commentary", as well as the epistemological analysis of the associated representation system. Auxiliary methods are the epistemology of the humanities, which makes it possible to establish the essence of the literary concept. In the course of this study, a sketch of the periodization of the history of the concept of "authorial commentary" was given. The thesis was put forward that the period from 1921 to 1935 is central to its existence in literary discourse, during which the tradition of its dual use was established. This tradition is relevant to this day. An epistemological characteristic of this period was given. It shows the predominance of the psychological understanding of commentary over its understanding as the form of literary study. It was found out that in the context of the formation of textology, this concept denoted the connection of an artistic work with the non-fiction texts of the author accompanying its appearance. The equivalence of the word forms "authorial commentary" and "auto-commentary" was demonstrated, and the thesis was put forward that author's commentary was defined by literary critics of the 20s and 30s as a type of auto-criticism, and the very doctrine of auto-criticism was part of the psychology of creativity. The last was predominant and influential concept of the time due to complex relations between psychoanalysis and psychological criticism, and young soviet literature studies.