EN
The article presents an analysis of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s short story Wielki (The Great One) from the collection Melancholicy and poses a question about the borderline separating interpretation from over-interpretation. The process of reading allows the interpreter to identify musical motifs, in particular Beethoven’s string quartet Opus 135 Muss es sein? / Es muss sein! (Does it have to be so? / It has to be so!) which expresses the sad truth that the novella’s suffering character Juliusz, a violin virtuoso, discovers. In the last part of the article its author questions such an interpretative move and recalls statements which discuss the limits of literary commentaries.