Abstract: The article is devoted to the consideration of the representation of cultural meanings when using national cultural codes in fiction. Research objectives: to substantiate the use of the category of cultural code in the analysis of a literary work; to characterize the features of the functioning of the national cultural code in relation to cultural universals; to show the specifics of national images associated with spatial and temporal cultural codes. Methods (historical and literary, structural, semantic) and methodological basis of the work are the works of Russian, Belarusian and foreign scientists in the field of philology (Yu. Lotman, R. Jacobson, M. Epstein, N. Tolstoy, S. Tolstaya, etc.), cultural studies and sociology (K. Rapay, J. Murdoch). The result of the work is that the main approaches to the definition of the cultural code are identified, cultural meanings, translated using national cultural codes, associated with images of the Motherland, small homeland, and Fatherland are identified on the example of works of Russian and Belarusian literature. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the features of the representation of cultural meanings when using national cultural images in Russian and Belarusian literature are analyzed. The practical scope of the results of the work is seen in the possibility of using this material for deep understanding and studying such academic disciplines as "History of Russian Literature", "History of Belarusian Literature", university historical and literary courses, during independent research work of students, when writing term papers and theses.