The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil

by Nikolai Gogol

The compassion, simplicity, and gentle humor with which he treats the poignant quest of a hapless civil servant for the return of his stolen overcoat—and the fantastic yet realistic manner in which he takes revenge on his nemesis, the Very Important Person—mark "The Overcoat" as one of the greatest achievements of Gogol's genius.

The five other "Tales of Good and Evil" in this superb collection demonstrate the broad range of Gogol's literary palette in his short fiction: the fantastic, supernaturally tinged "The Terrible Vengeance," the comic portraiture of "Ivan Fydorovich Shponka and His Aunt," the tragic moral realism of "The Portrait" and "Nevsky Avenue," and the rampaging satire and absurdism of his send-up of Russian upper-class stupidity, "The Nose."

The stories offer the reader the perfect introduction to the imaginative genius of Gogol, which was to flower so triumphantly in his masterpiece, 'Deal Souls'.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Russia, Russian Literature, Literature, Fantasy

271 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 1957

About the author

People consider that Russian writer Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Николай Васильевич Гоголь) founded realism in Russian literature. His works include The Overcoat (1842) and Dead Souls (1842).

Ukrainian birth, heritage, and upbringing of Gogol influenced many of his written works among the most beloved in the tradition of Russian-language literature. Most critics see Gogol as the first Russian realist. His biting satire, comic realism, and descriptions of Russian provincials and petty bureaucrats influenced later Russian masters Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, and especially Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Gogol wittily said many later Russian maxims.

Gogol first used the techniques of surrealism and the grotesque in his works The Nose , Viy , The Overcoat , and Nevsky Prospekt . Ukrainian upbringing, culture, and folklore influenced his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka .
His later writing satirized political corruption in the Russian empire in Dead Souls .

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) is known for his short stories. Having finished the excellent "Taras Bulba" and enjoying it, I decided to grab this novel as well. "The Overcoat" is actually a collection of short stories. The full title is "The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil" and the stories tend to be of both sorts.

"The Terrible Vengeance" could be considered an "Evil" tale and it is a dark one. It is the story of a brave Cossack, Danilo, who must contend with his father-in-law who happens to be an evil sorcerer. A very dark tale, but one I enjoyed.

"Ivan Fydorovich Shponka and His Aunt" could be considered one of the "Good" tales. it is a funny story about an Army veteran, Shponka, who moves to his farm which is being run by his Aunt. His attempts to meet his Aunt's plans and adjusting to civilian life make for an amusing tale.

"The Portrait" is another "Evil" tale about a gifted artist that finds a haunted picture and it ends up leading him down a path which turns his passion into mere work and eventually destroys him. The creepy tale of the haunted portrait is also one of my favorites. This one also is a very dark tale.

"Nevsky Avenue" is a strange tale. In reality, it is about the street itself and the activities that make it unique. I enjoyed this description of the avenue, but the part of the tale describes the lives of two young men. One falls in love with a prostitute and suffers awful consequences, whilst the other chases after another man's wife and also suffers for it. I consider this strange because the Nevsky descriptions are beautiful and uplifting, but the tales of the people he highlights is dark. A weird mix but a good short story.

"The Nose" is a "Good" tale and it is a funny one. A man's nose disappears and it turns sentient and tries to hide from him, and even adopts disguises. If that sounded odd, this tale is certainly that. But it is a funny tale and certainly unique.

"The Overcoat" is also a strange tale. Its the story of a Civil Servant who scrimps and saves for a new overcoat only to find his new treasure will lead him towards a life of sorrow. A dark ending and not one I was expecting. It is a very good short story and has some dark humor in the descriptions of the personalities of the Civil Service.

Overall? I really enjoyed this collection of short stories and would recommend Gogol's work to anyone who likes Russian literature.

[Sentimental Surrealist · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange collection indeed, and not just because of Gogol's much-discussed command of the surreal, exemplified in "the Nose." It veers between brilliant writing and a didacticism so frustrating it made me want to hurl the book across the room. Gogol's instinct to lecture sent "The Portrait" from a great Faustian story into a dull slog, and "The Terrible Vengeance" would've made for a hell of a ghost story if it weren't for the incessant interruptions about the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian "national characters" (which often results in the Polish getting the short end of the stick) and the importance of adhering to the Russian Orthodox church. I'll grant that the rambling narrative voice used here, one of his earlier stories, was later perfected "The Nose" and "The Overcoat," but I haven't got the time for this kind of nationalism. Or, for that matter, any type of nationalism.

Luckily, Gogol learned to stop lecturing and tell a story by the end of his career. "The Overcoat" is a terrific story, full of pathos and humor and satire, even some ghostliness toward the end. Gogol's sense of irony here is so dry as to be magnificent. The same goes for the more satirical "Nose," which features that rarest of things, an unreliable third-person narrator. This one landed Gogol in some hot water with the Russian authorities, and he had to alter the scene of the nose going to church. They missed out on the funniest scene in the piece, but luckily it's been restored. The third of the really great ones is "Nevsky Avenue," whose cinematic description of the street in question is beautiful; Gogol also has fun playing with time and perspective here, and pulls it off with much more style than he did with "The Portrait." The only story I outright didn't care for here is "Ivan Fyorodich Shponka and His Aunt." I think I would've rather read the one where Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Fyodorovich fought. Word on the street is that's really funny. That's what they do on the street these days, talk about which Gogol story is funniest.

But hey! I'm glad I finally took the plunge into Gogol, since I've been meaning to do so since I got into Dostoevsky. Who, incidentally, I would still say I preferred - he's a lot less hectoring, if also less surreal. I'll definitely read more of this guy in the future, although I've got my eye out for the preaching. It was like you could skip whole fucking pages of "The Terrible Vengeance" and not have missed anything.

[Shama · Rating 4 out of 5]

My god, what a nut-job! Gogol was a crazy, religious, depressed, repressed lunatic, but my gum, could he write. The stories in this collection ranged from Gothic to comedic with tidbits of the fantastic and macabre. I loved the progression of the stories as much as I loved the stories themselves. The book is put together quite well, and readers shouldn't have trouble shifting their perspectives from Gogol's major themes: religion, piety, women, money, family, magic, society and circumstance. Oh, and am I the only one who thinks Gogol's work is hilarious?

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by Goodreader and Trotskyite Brian T., The Overcoat is an interesting collection of six short stories by Nicolai Golgol. Several of his tales explore evil as an an abstraction: in The Terrible Vengeance , a girl finds out her father is in fact the devil himself, in The Portrait, evil somehow takes up residence in a scary picture. The remaining stories are comic and absurd. The Nose begins with a barber finding a completely intact human nose baked into a loaf of bread. The rest of the story concerns the nose's true owner trying to come to grips with a noseless existence. Folks looking for continuity or careful plot coherence will look in vain. 21st century plot continuity was not Golgol's interest. (By the end of The Nose, readers will be told that the nose in question is seen praying in church, riding about the streets of St. Petersburg, and being mistaken for a military officer.) Golgol seems interested chiefly in stretching the imagination of the reader, telling a shocking story, and delighting in the moral depth and existential absurdity of ordinary people. Nathaniel Hawthorne meets Kakfa. Definitely worth reading!

[Taylor Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful. Gogol weaves mysticism, magic, and satire into gripping comedic tales. Each of these is a masterpiece. Gogol’s world, like Kafka’s, is an enigma: cruel, inscrutable, ludicrous.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Halloween reading! Sorcerer's curses, haunted paintings, noses that go walkabout, and stolen overcoats made this a faster and more fun read than I expected. I was struck by Gogol's resemblance to Poe, who was writing at the same time - both authors can render ordinary things uncanny. Gogol has a nice trick of unexpectedly killing off his main characters two-thirds of the way through the story - it got me every time. One major problem - his anti-Semitism, which appears in almost every story, with Jews depicted as dirty, lazy, and money-grubbing. It was hard to take, and I probably won't bother reading more Gogol, but these stories were fun.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gogol set the bar by which all other Russian authors of his day were judged. His writing style is unorthodox by today's standards. The deliberate unfinished feel of 'Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt' is a perfect example. But unorthodox as Gogol can be, his writing is thoroughly charming, and a very rewarding read in my opinion, even if the translation of this edition does (as some of the other reviews here suggest) leave something to be desired.

It's vary hard to understate the impact that Gogol's stories, The Overcoat in particular, had on his world and the generations of Russians that came after him. The Overcoat marked the birth of an entirely new sort of character in Russian Literature; it was the first time a poor man of low class, meek constitution, and average bearing could be a viable hero. The saying "We all came out of Gogol's 'Overcoat'." has been widely attributed to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and many other members of the Russian Intelligentsia; and, in fact, you can hear Gogol's echo through all the great Russian writers that came after him.

If you're looking to get into Russian Literature, a collection of Nikolai Gogol's short stories like this one is a great place to start.

[Alaa Baageel · Rating 3 out of 5]

وانتهيت من قصص جوجول، أول مصافحة لي مع الأدب الرّوسيّ. يُقال بأنّ أشهر الأدباء الروسيين قد خرجوا من "معطف" جوجول. الكتاب يحتوي على أربع قصص مليئة بالدّروس الّتي قد تحتاجُ منك بعض الوقت لتعيشها أكثر، مذكّرات مجنون، المعطف، الأنف، الصورة.
الأسلوب غريبٌ عليّ تقريبًا بما أنها المرّة الأولى، لكن يجذبُ في شيءٍ ما لا أستطيعُ تمييزه، ربّما يكون تصويره للطبقيّة الموجودة في كلّ زمان ومكان، والتصرفات الّتي تبنى عليها، أوزالجشع الّذي يتملّك ابن آدم عند أيّ باب يُفتح له يطلب المزيد ولا يكتفي. العبر جميلة جدًا فيه.
عتبي الوحيد على أنّ بعض الأحداث كانت مُتوقّعة جدًا، وعتبي الأكبر على الترجمة السيئة جدًا للأسف!
المترجم: مصطفى علي وهبة.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm just making an acquaintance with Russian literature and this set of stories is simply strange. My favorite was "Nevsky Avenue" which for me is the one most easily understood. As for the others, they are good, but I think I need to know more about Russian history and read more Russian literature to "get" these stories. Was "The Nose" about snobbery or vanity, or both? Was
"The Overcoat" about consumerism/unfulfilled dreams? I'll read more Gogol, definitely, and I might come back to this set of stories again.

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Surprisingly, the Overcoat was not the stand out for me. I would say The Potrait was the most intruiging tale. The stories are all laced with themes of morality yet some were downright odd. I struggled to connect the deeper meanings to some, such as the Nose making me feel like an unintellectual but overall a solid read.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

As David Magarshack says in the introduction to this edition, with "The Overcoat", "...Gogol began a new chapter in Russian literature in which the underdog and social misfit is treated not as a nuisance, or a figure of fun, or an object of charity, but as a human being who has as much right to happiness as anyone else". He thereby served as an inspiration to the Russian realist authors who followed, such as Dostoevsky, who famously said "we have all come out from under Gogol's 'Overcoat'".

The two stories I loved most in this collection were "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt" and "The Overcoat". I disliked "The Nose". The rest were all interesting and as with all great fiction, transported me to another time and place.

Among other things you'll find nationalism ("When Cossack hearts meet, they almost leap out of the breast to greet each other."), superstition (people afraid to walk in the woods after dark for fear of unbaptised children and maidens who have drowned themselves), anti-Semitism ("The majority of its officers drank hard and were very expert at dragging Jews about by their side locks, in which pastime they were as proficient as the hussars"), and poverty ("...I've been in the habit of stopping my ears for the night ever since that damned incident in a Russian inn when a cockroach crawled into my left ear. Those damned Russians, as I found out later, even eat their cabbage soup with cockroaches in it.").

It's not "pretty" fiction; the plots are sometimes irrational and there is a somewhat "raw" feeling throughout.

For all of his love of Russia, Gogol was also in the end was too conservative for his times, supporting serfdom and the patriarchal way of life as the tidal wave of change approached. Ultimately it drove him kinda nuts and he starved himself to death at the age of 42.

I love the linkages between the Russian giants: Gogol's friendship with Pushkin at the age of 22 as he burst upon the scene, Turgenev attending history class at Petersburg University with an inept Gogol as teacher, the critic Belinsky blasting Gogol in a letter, which Dostoevsky then read publicly to a group of radicals causing him to get sentenced to prison, etc.

It's certainly a part of why I read "Dead Souls" as well as these short stories; I enjoyed both and would recommend Gogol to others. I'm surprised at how few have him in their collections.

Quotes...
On death, from "The Overcoat":
"Akaky Akakyevich was taken to the cemetery and buried. And St. Petersburg carried on without Akaky, as though he had never lived there. A human being just disappeared and left no trace, a human being whom no one ever dreamed of protecting, who was not dear to anyone, whom no one thought of taking any interest in, who did not attract the attention even of a naturalist who never fails to stick a pin through an ordinary fly to examine it under the microscope…and upon whose head afterwards disaster had most pitilessly fallen, as it falls upon the heads of the great ones of this Earth!"

On joy in small things, from "Nevsky Avenue":
"He saw the unknown girl run up the steps, turn around, put a finger against her lips, and make a sign to him to follow her. His knees shook; his feelings, his thoughts, were aflame; joy like a flash of lightning pierced his heart, bringing with it the sensation of sharp pain. No, it was certainly not a dream! Oh, how much happiness could be crowded in one brief moment! What a lifetime of ecstasy in only two minutes!"

On old age, from "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt":
"“…I’m too old. In the old days, I remember, our buckwheat used to reach as high as a man’s waist, but now goodness only knows what it is like. Though, mind you, I am told that everything is much better now.”
Here the old lady heaved a sigh. And some outside observer might have recognized in that sigh the sigh of the eighteenth century."

And again, from "The Portrait":
"He was already beginning, as is the habit of men of his age, to accuse all young people indiscriminately of immoral and viscous trends of thought. … He had, in fact, reached the age when anything showing the slightest flash of inspiration is condemned and frowned upon, when even the mightiest chord reaches the spirit feebly and does not pierce a man’s heart with its sound, when the touch of beauty no longer fans the virgin forces into fire and flame, but all burnt-out feelings respond more easily to the jingle of gold, hearken more attentively to its seductive music and little by little allow themselves unconsciously to be lulled to sleep by it."

[Judy Valentino · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was torn on whether to rate this 2 or 3 but I settled on 2 because most of the time I did not like this book. I felt "The Nose" was the only story of the collection that was quite good; the rest were plodding exercises with the exceptions of "The Portrait" and the titular story, which were just OK. Gogol also has a marked problem with misogyny and is antisemitic on occasion too.

Do I think Gogol is bad? No. I think he was a product of his time, meaning this one is largely for historical interest in my eyes.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

first 2 stories are unmemorable but "The Portrait" and "Nevsky Avenue" absolutely carried

my favourite story was the one where a man is driven to madness because a pretty girl smiled at him once

The Overcoat was also pretty good tbh poor guy just wanted a jacket...

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Portrait was really great, but was suspiciously similar to Dorian Gray - meaning I strongly suspect that Wilde ripped off Gogol. The Nose was bizarre and reminded me a little of that French film, The Moustache. Some of the stories were somewhat dull, but I really think it's because Gogol's sentences average about seven paragraphs a piece. Really - it's exhausting! You get lost in between all the commas. I loved the originality, and there were pieces - certain phrases that were just perfection - beautifully descriptive. It's definitely Russian (Ukranian). Lots of poverty and lots of cold.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jhumpa Lahiri piqued my interest. After devouring the Namesake, I felt compelled to give Gogol a try. And I’m so glad I did!

Normally I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but Gogol’s pieces (with the exception of Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt, which didn’t really have an ending) were all really fulfilling.

My two favorites - hands down - were The Overcoat and the absurdist piece The Nose.

This is one that I may end up buying because I can see myself reading these again.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

gogol is such a great writer. this particular collection has less of his comedic stuff, although a few of those stories are present. some of this stuff could be considered gothic horror, even. mario bava based one of his first gothic horror movies "black sunday" off of gogol's "the viy", which was an excellent film. i have yet to read "the viy", but i plan on doing so

[Ahlam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the "overcoat" and "the portrait" .. They were entertaining. However, "Terrible vengeance" was weird but entertaining .. 'Nevsky Avenue" was totally boring. I hated "The Nose".. Overall, I kind of liked the way the whole thing was written though so much wordiness and sometimes boring and unnecessary details.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous and poignant, often unexpected, delightfully absurd. Everything that a piece of literature should be. 'The Overcoat' in particular shines in this collection. Though 'The Nose' was particularly amusing.

[Madeline W · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Portrait" was the most engrossing for me out of all of the stories. These definitely merit a re-read to pick up on some of the repeated themes and odd Russian jokes to a better extent.

[RK Byers · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nevsky Street" and "The Portrait" TOTALLY carried this book. "The Overcoat" was only ok.

[Bob Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six tales don't constitute author's best work

This volume constitutes six stories by Gogol of which two are the most famous; "The Overcoat", a wonderful psychological story which was made into a film in the USSR many years ago, and "The Nose", a satire of Russian middle level officials of the early 19th century. Taken as a book, though, these tales full of dreams, asides, and great prolixity are not a major literary landmark on the world stage. Russian literature, as one of the world's greatest collections of works, offers a lot more in my opinion. Gogol, while perhaps a brilliant star for some national literatures, can only be considered a minor writer in Russia, especially if read in English as translated by David Magarshack, whose style can hardly be called "contemporary". While it's true that Gogol had a good sense of humor, if a little bizarre, it comes across in this translation as childish. (I must hasten to add that I don't know Russian.)
"The Terrible Vengeance" is a rather tedious fairy tale with an incestuous theme, while "The Portrait" bears some likeness to a certain, later work by Oscar Wilde. Though the idea is interesting, Gogol, as in several other stories, just doesn't know when to let go. The story "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt" contains lively humor and many colorful characters. I enjoyed it the most of all, but it was only the beginning of a larger work, which unfortunately seems never to have been completed.
Some analysts (see the Introduction by the translator)have read into Gogol's work pre-revolutionary predictions of violent change or a rising up of the lower classes. I think such an idea is far-fetched. Similarly, while it is true that Gogol's tales and stories do contain struggles between good and evil, the same can be said of an enormous number of folk tales, religious works, and literary pieces by writers in every language. It is interesting to read Gogol's work to widen your knowledge of Russian and world literature. That is a source of satisfaction, but perhaps not enough. Several of the stories are good, but they don't measure up to his longer works---"Dead Souls" and "The Government Inspector". I would read them first, before this lesser book.

[Jen H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of the book because I wished to read something by someone whose writing had an influence on Dostoevsky, from whom we get the quote, "Beauty will save the world". In the intro I read, " Belinsky's 'Letter to Gogol,' which was immediately suppressed by the authorities, was directly responsible for Dostoevsky's arrest and imprisonment in Siberia," because "Dostoevsky...read it to a meeting of radicals in Petersburg".

I must confess. I did not read every tale in this collection. I read one story, the one from which the title is taken: The Overcoat. Of this story, it was thought by Gogol's contemporaries to signify the fate that awaited the Russian ruling class if it did not repent of its ways. If this was the case, then it is easy to see why anything related to Gogol would have been interpreted as subversive.

The Overcoat is the story of a poor office worker who saves and saves to purchase a new coat. The coat is stolen. The office worker dies. The Russian government officer who treated him poorly gets his coat stolen by "the ghost" of the deceased worker. Simple plot, but with dangerous undertones in a society which had no patience with those who had differing views of government and how it should or should not operate.

The Overcoat sets the stage for other Gogol stories, which I should like to read as time allows.

[Diana Prentice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got into Gogol after reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel “The Namesake”. This collection has 6 stories, tied together by the themes of “good and evil”. From these pages I feel that Gogol was a deeply religious person.

The Terrible Vengeance - this reads like a fairy tale but with a lot of God and the devil and so on. Very terrible things happened to good people, but eventually God prevails, that sort of thing. B.

Ivan Fuodorovich Shponka and His Aunt - this story was so hard to read, I almost gave up the whole book. C-.

The Portrait - the devil lives in a portrait and ruins all those who come to close contact with it. The problem I have with this story is how the devil was pure evil and there’s no subtlety to it. It just felt really straightforward. B-.

Nevsky Avenue - two friends met two ladies on Nevsky Avenue one evening, and what happened afterwards. This is a great psychological story. The way the two guys thought of the ladies and pursued them, and what came of it, were purely psychological. A-.

The Nose - the absurd, something Kafka could have written. There’s the dry sense of humor along with the surreal that I love. A.

The Overcoat - full of sympathies for the little guy, very vivid descriptions of the bureaucratic state in those days. This story must be a little unusual at that time in that it portrayed even the most ordinary people as worthy of respect. A+.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terrible Vengeance - 1 Star - one of the worst stories I've read, with a ridiculous concept of an overbearing father in law fighting his daughter's man, transforming into a demon, trying to take his daughter for his wife ... Inexplicably cited as the author's "early genius" reads like it was written by an asshole in his early 20s, as it was

Ivon Fyodorovich, Nevsky Avenue, The Nose - 2 stars - a farce with a detached nose thrown in the river, a traveling man, and a guy disillusioned that the girl of his dreams on the St Petersburg fashionable avenues turns out to be a common streetwalker. All misses.

The Overcoat - 3 stars - a bit Kafkaesque, with the feeling of isolation and bureaucratic ineptitude (Gogol really beats the reader over the head with his hatred of bureaucrats). Solid enough because I felt genuine empathy with the protagonist

The Portrait - 4 stars - the one story in the book that is high quality fiction - with the tale of a portrait from somewhere in the Mediterranean or Persia or India that takes on lifelike qualities and allows the starving artist to fulfill his dreams of wealth and society and success. But at what cost? Legitimately good. Cannot recommend the book as a whole, but The Portrait is definitely worth your time, and the title story is within range.

[Eric Phetteplace · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Overcoat and The Nose are incredible short stories, far better than you'd expect for their time, and still very funny. I was hoping some of the other stories would be decent but they were all very disappointing to me. They felt primitive—no real understanding of how to structure or pace them, haphazard plots with unnecessary sequences, very generic characters.

I did learn something from this collection. The two good stories always seemed so incredibly far ahead of their time to me, bringing to mind Kafka and surrealism. But on reading the other stories it's clear how similar they are to ghost stories, folktales with supernatural elements. The Overcoat's ending is sensible if you follow a Hollywood-like "code" of every bad action needing to be punished in Christian narratives. Gogol's innovations are his satire, hilarious depiction of bureaucracy (a commonality of the two good stories is the civil service), and transforming supernatural elements into what a modern reader interprets as absurdism.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing that Gogol's short stories had a great influence on Russian literature, I went into the reading more out of literary obligation than of pure interest. That being said, I was completely charmed by the writing and found myself enjoying Gogol's works from page 1. While a few of the stories felt bloated at times (Nevsky Avenue, The Portrait), the majority of the collection was lively, on-point, and insightful. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys classic Russian literature, or who appreciates writing that isn't bound to the confines of reality.

[Richie Arvidson]

I mean, I knew he was Russian (Ukrainian) and he came before Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, so I kinda thought it would be like that… psychological, piercing, intimate and a little religious.
Nope. Weird. Whacky. Absurd, even, but more Vonnegut absurd than Kafka or Camus absurd. Maybe a little Kafka, in his use of pathetic characters that you only half sympathize with. Experimental I guess. Ending of Vengeance was wild and brilliant. I wonder if he was going for laughs, definitely poking fun. It was interesting, but I think I prefer the sentimental Russians.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a physically unremarkable book, I was astonished and relieved to discover that this miniature anthology contained many thought-provoking stories. Nikolai Gogol, renowned for his parable-like tales revolving around the duality of good and evil, enchants readers with his seemingly benign prose; he progresses his plots with ineffable swiftness, all while managing to shock and appall the reader with the gravity of the disastrous events that perturb each story's protagonists.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see why 'The Overcoat' is anthologized and "exemplarized" so often as "being Gogol". Of the tales in this book, this is probably the strongest one, but all of the others have their own strengths, too ... And amazing, how, after so many years since composition, the humor is still there and the tone of the writing still appeals -- and this from a reviewer who just couldn't make it any further than about 20 pages into "Dead Souls."

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it is the translation or maybe just my slowly encrusting sensibilities, but these stories aren't as good as I remember them being. "The Nose" and "The Overcoat", of course, are both excellent. Gogol is justly known for them. "The Terrible Vengeance" which opens the volume is also quite good, a tale of a crazed sorcerer trying to get busy with his daughter and torment her family. The other tales are pretty pedestrian and a little dull, actually.