The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (1842): A Review

Title: The Overcoat

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Publication Year: 1842

Pages: 57

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Satire

Source: ebook & audiobook @storytel.tr

Opening Sentence: In the department of--but it is better not to mention the department. There is nothing more irritable than departments, regiments, courts of justice, and, in a word, every branch of public service.

First of all, Sir! This is no short story. Let’s make it clear. Novella, maybe. Short story, no!

“The Overcoat” by Gogol is the story of Akaky Akakievich, who is content with his routine job; he is more than content, he thoroughly enjoys his role as a copyist. Nothing should change his routine! He is almost me, or a cat, or Bartleby, the Scrivener! He is happy with his job and is respected for what he does, but there are always bullies at the workplace. So, he has to deal with that aspect of his job as well. However, nothing stops him from his obsession with what he does.

Until he finds a new obsession! He needs a new overcoat because the one he has is beyond repair. Problem: money! He has to save money for months to afford the coat. Finally, he does, at the expense of not having the basics in life. He is so overjoyed because of this new overcoat that he becomes a new person.

Until someone robs him of his overcoat. Now a new obsession! Finding the overcoat, but he never succeeds. This takes a traumatic toll on him, and of course, St. Petersburg’s cold; he gets ill and dies to no one’s knowledge. But the obsession does not end! He has to find that coat even after death. Here, the story shifts from a detailed, realistic (boring?) novella (not a short story) to a supernatural tale, in which Akaky haunts the people of St. Petersburg, robbing them of their coats until he achieves satisfaction by stealing the general’s coat, whom Akaky was outraged by for not helping him find his overcoat.

Gogol creates a layered story of an ordinary office worker, following him from one menial obsession to another, each absurd in its own way. You can read it from different perspectives, but at the end of the day, you say, “Poor Akaky! Finding joy late in life which cost him his life” or “Akaky! You were content with your life, why the change? Of course, it was cold and it was necessary!” or “Oh Akaky! You never enjoyed the excitement of possessing something that delighted you, and when you got it, poor you! It was too short! But please rest in peace and let go of what you cannot have anymore!”