The present article is devoted to the study of problems of inclusion functioning in the language of Russian literature. Being clear markers of a culture, inclusions of different origin are used by the writers as a unique artistic device. The article examines different approaches to the definition of foreign inclusion, the analysis of the possible ways to classify inclusions in terms of their structural and functional characteristic aspects. Basing on the Russian literature of the XIX - beginning of XXI century, the author made a complex linguistic and literary analysis of the inclusion functioning in the Russian texts from the point of view of their pragmatic and stylistic load. The author clarifies the role of linguistic and extralinguistic factors in the use of inclusions as a means of transmission of the author's intentions.