In the article, the author investigates the artistic text in order to check what linguistic
shapes the music fragments which appear in it assume, and which elements of cultural
images of musical instruments have been reinforced in the descriptions of the treatise.
The analyses conducted within the cultural linguistic framework open up new dimensions
of interpretation, and demonstrate that the fragments of the novel which have
been devoted to instruments are not merely linguistic pictures, but important elements
of text structure that have had a significant influence on its plot. It is noteworthy that
the main protagonist of Traktat o łuskaniu fasoli (The Treatise on Shelling Beans) is
intermediately characterised by the instruments that appear in his life. Every instrument
he comes across determines his personal development, strengthens the feeling
of existential sense, and sometimes unites him with his predecessors
