The Overcoat
Шинель
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A great book. First published AD 1842, written in Russian
"The Overcoat" is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, published in 1843. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: "We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat". Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described "The Overcoat" as "The greatest Russian short story ever written".
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Where it is set
Its heirs
Later works that draw on The Overcoat.
Poor FolkGreat book
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, AD 1846
Dostoevsky's first novel picks up Gogol's poor copying clerk. Makar Devushkin, a clerk himself, reads The Overcoat and is hurt by it, and the book answers Gogol by giving such a man an inner life and a voice of his own.
