Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat and Other Short Stories is a haunting, satirical, and deeply human collection that lays bare the absurdities of 19th-century Russian life with a surreal, almost fever-dream intensity. Gogol’s world is one of minor clerks, misplaced egos, social climbers, and tragic dreamers — all trapped in a cold, indifferent system. In The Overcoat, the humble Akaky Akakievich finds fleeting joy in a new coat, only to lose it and descend into despair — a story so impactful that Dostoevsky famously claimed, “We all came out of Gogol’s overcoat.” The Nose pushes absurdity further, featuring a man whose nose detaches and becomes a higher-ranking official — a wild allegory on vanity and identity. The Diary of a Madman charts a heartbreaking descent into delusion, where a clerk reimagines himself as the King of Spain, underscoring how madness and isolation grow in the cracks of rigid hierarchies. Nevsky Prospect seduces the reader with romantic promise, only to unravel into cynical disillusionment, showing how illusion thrives in urban life. And The Carriage, though brief, delivers a scathing jab at false pride and social pretension. Together, these tales blend comedy and tragedy with razor-sharp precision, forming the DNA of modern Russian literature. Reading this collection in 2001, I was struck by how eerily familiar it all felt — the alienation, the longing for recognition, the bureaucratic indifference. Gogol doesn’t just write stories — he dissects societies, often with a grotesque grin, always with a sorrowful heart.