A fatal case of belief in the possibilities of Venetian accounting in Julian Wieniawski’s humoresque Buchalterya podwójna

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to acquaint readers with Julian Wieniawski’s 1888 humoresque, the title motif of which is double-entry bookkeeping.Methodology/approach: The text is analyzed by interpreting the reasons for the main character’s praise of double-entry bookkeeping and the hopes unfulfilled but placed in it. Inferences are made from the text of the extent of accounting used by the main character and the views on it of the author of the story. Findings: Conjectures on why double-entry bookkeeping failed on the farm.Research limitations: Limitations arise from the nature of the literary work, which is a humoresque in which a perverse ending to earlier expectations is important. Originality/value: The article serves as a cautionary tale against applying a scientific approach to double-entry bookkeeping wherever it is not necessary. The article demonstrates that accounting can be, if not the main then a side plot of literary works. This was the case with Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Cymbeline or Herbert’s Portrait in Black Frames, among others, and it is also the case here.