Mr. James’s Reviews > The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil > Status Update
Mr. James
is on page 46 of 271
Smothered in the green foliage, they [the woods], and the wild flowers, too, crowd together along the margin of the flowering waters and, bending over, gaze into them, never for a moment tiring of the pastime, never for a moment averting their admiring, radiant glances from the stream, and they smile at it and greet it, waving their branches. But they dare not look into the Dnieper midstream [...]. -- NG
— Dec 30, 2025 12:06AM
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Mr. James’s Previous Updates
Mr. James
is on page 61 of 271
A Terrible Vengeance:
After a soft kiss on the cheek, she'll slit her father's throat. Even the Devil deserves a daughter's love.
— Jan 13, 2026 08:18AM
Mr. James
is on page 52 of 271
"Why doesn't my father come? Doesn't he know it is time he was stabbed to death? I suppose he expects me to go for him..." -- NG
— Jan 09, 2026 12:15AM
Mr. James
is on page 40 of 271
"Daughter, for Christ's sake spare one glance at your guilty father. Why, even the savage wolf cubs will never tear their mother to pieces!" She paid no attention to him and walked on. "Daughter, for the sake of your unhappy mother..." She stopped. "For the sake of your unhappy mother come here and listen to my last words." -- NG
— Dec 21, 2025 10:28PM
Mr. James
is on page 34 of 271
And it is no wonder you did not see everything that was in your dream. You don't know a tenth part of what your soul knows. Do you know that your father is the Antichrist? -- NG
— Dec 18, 2025 01:13PM
Mr. James
is on page 26 of 271
Oh, such a queer dream, and it was plain as though it were really happening. I dreamt that my father was the very same monster whom we saw at the Captain's house. But please don't pay any attention to this dream. People dream all sorts of silly things! I dreamed that I was standing before him, shivering and frightened, my whole body tortured by every word he spoke. Oh, if only you had heard what he said... -- NG
— Dec 10, 2025 11:30AM
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Darry
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Dec 30, 2025 06:06PM
@Mr.James, that reads like reportage after the story of Narcissus, like the placement of lost souls along the waters streaming to hell. Is it a quote from the book? What does NG signify?
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Yes, it's a quote from the book. NG stands for Nikolai Gogol; I drop the periods because I'm a rebel like that.
P.S. I think you're onto something.
(Did you get a notification about me using the @ and your nickname?) I would be very interested in the symbolism of getting out of the woods or getting lost in the woods that the story you have taken the quote from signifies. The woods could be the prevalence of social media today, if Nikolai Gogol were alive and writing this in our contemporary period. Streaming is not the only ripple to be made in the looking glass that separates many online from the real and unreal, the truth and the fantasy. A lot is made about zombie culture without understanding the story of Narcissus and what became of him. Dead Internet theory is apt.... So, I am interested in what the story actually alludes to in the section you have taken the quotation from rather than my ignorant but contemporary riff.
@ Dosn't work on Goodreads.The rest of the quote goes as follows, showing that beauty can become unforgiving, where only the chosen are allowed to gaze upon its inner depth; the Dnieper is the river that goes through the town. The quote concludes: "But they dare not look into the Dnieper midstream; none but the sun and the blue sky gaze into it there. Rarely will a bird fly as far as that. Glorious one! There is no river like it in the world." -- NG
(Thanks. Is it possible to tag people on Goodreads?)So the surface beauty is enough for most, but it takes illumination and depth like the sky itself to truly appreciate it. ... Narcissus' undoing was to remain gazing at the surface depth. So, according to that fable, he never really knew himself; he froze before looking deeply in to himself. It seems a parallel to the passage from your reading.
