Nikolai Gogol The Overcoat and Selected Stories

One of the most influential short stories ever written, Nikolai Gogol's ‘‘The Overcoat’’ first appeared in 1842 as part of a four-volume publication of its author's Collected Works. The story is considered not only an early masterpiece of Russian Naturalism—a movement that would dominate the country's literature for generations—but a progenitor of the modern short story form itself. "We all came out from under Gogol's 'Overcoat'" is a remark that has been variously attributed to Dostoevsky and Turgenev. That either or both might have said it is an indication of the far-reaching significance of Gogol's work.


Gogol's writings have been seen as a bridge between the genres of romanticism and realism in Russian literature. Progressive critics of his day praised Gogol for grounding his prose fictions in the everyday lives of ordinary people, and they claimed him as a pioneer of a new "naturalist" aesthetic. This special edition contains: 1. The Overcoat, 2. Taras Bulba, 3. St. John's Eve, 4. The Nose, 5. The Mysterious Portrait, 6. The Calash.