"Czytająca list przy otwartym oknie"

Abstract

The text is an analysis of the Yermeer’s picture and focuses on the presentation of the most significant elements of reading. Among them, as the essay points out, are: 1. The principle of absence ( of the author as vell as the reader who, when immersed in reading, loses his sense of self-awareness); 2. Changes in the structure of the human ego (when we are unself-cen teed then we are displaced from the boundaries of our personality and reach the status describable in ontologioal terms as that of "beforeperson"); 3. This implies the placement o f reading in the gap between the space of the light of reason and the dark, chactic area of understanding exceeding human measure.