Abstrakt
The world of Bolesław Prus, both real and fi ctional, feature, was divided into two
spaces: the fi rst – hostile, alien, unloved, vast and unknown and the second – secure, kind,
accepted, limited and frequently visited by the writer. He tolerated the former, because
he had to, because it existed, because it was the immanent part of the plot of a literary
work and it was diffi cult for the writer to escape from setting at least one of his works in
the countryside; the latter was treated as his kingdom, he liked to be there, felt confi dent
so it is not surprising that his characters were placed there most eagerly. The unfamiliar
terrain to the writer is a world of vast territories, expanded both horizontally and vertically.
The area which was friendly to Prus was bordered with the walls of the fl at – real or
created or extended down the streets of a town, especially Warsaw. The caesura between
these worlds was at the same time a colour perception border line in the life and works
of Bolesław Prus. This article tackles the notion of the differences in perceiving colours
in both of the worlds.