Title: The Overcoat
Genre: Short Story
Year: 1842
Pages: 60
Origin: read on an iPhone
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5
Nikolai Gogol holds a literary reputation in Russia comparable to that of Dickens in this country; both are writing titans of the nineteenth century. But rather than stories of orphans in Victorian London, Gogol concentrates on that other obsession of Russian literature: the neurotic fears of bureaucracy. This is shown in his work, such as the play The Government Inspector and the ludicrous short story The Nose. The Overcoat continues in this similar vein.
The coat in question belongs to Akakiy Akakievich: ‘a certain official’ who goes about his business in ‘a certain department’, but as Gogol notes, ‘it will be better to describe the department in question only as a certain department’. Due to becoming ‘an object of ridicule’ by his colleagues, he decides to buy a new overcoat. He saves for months upon months – even starving himself of food and other essentials - to buy his new overcoat in order to save face amongst those in his office. The resulting overcoat causes a sensation in the office, being deemed worthy of Akakiy’s ‘most glorious day’ in his life:
‘All rushed into the ante-room to inspect it. They congratulated him and said pleasant things to him, so that he began at first to smile and then grow ashamed. When all surrounded him, and said that the new cloak must be “christened”, and that he must give a whole evening at least to this, Akakiy Akakievitch lost his head completely, and did not know where he stood, what to answer, or how to get out of it.’However, disaster strikes when Akakiy is attacked the coat is stolen. Looking left, right and centre for help, Akaky asks a ‘prominent personage’, who only berates him for bringing such a trivial matter to his attention. The embarrassment proves the end for Akakiy, who returns home and succumbs to death; Gogol noting, ‘so powerful is a certain scolding!’But, that is not the end of the story or Akakiy, with his ghost haunting the streets of the Russian capital:
‘But who could have imagined that this was not really the end of Akakiy Akakievitch, that he was destined to raise a commotion after death, as if in compensation for his utterly insignificant life?’This ghost searches for a suitable overcoat, ‘with regard to rank or calling’, forcing the police to issue orders to catch the corpse ‘alive or dead, at any cost, and punish him as an example to others in the most severe manner’. The prominent personage is accosted and reprieved of his own overcoat, with the ghost of Akakiy never being seen again.
All of which sounds like a rather odd short story, and one that could not possibly take hold of the reader’s attention. However, there is more at work here than just the barebones of the narrative outlined above. Gogol – and many other Russian writers of the 1800s (most of whom looked up to Gogol) – wrote fiction with thinly veiled attacks on Russian society and government (this method used due to the dreaded censor of the autocratic Tsarist government). Gogol comments on the ludicrous manners of society, of the foolishness of bureaucracy, and the crazy results that come about by following the rules of superiors (such as the arresting of ghosts). The overcoat serves as a linchpin of what is wrong in society, rather than being a story based on sartorial nervousness.
What makes Gogol’s story so readable is his own distinctive voice as the narrator. In the fashion of the nineteenth century writer, he interferes with the story as and when he chooses: ‘It is not necessary to say much about the tailor; but, as it is the custom to have the character of each personage in a novel clearly defined, there is no help for it’. Whilst he has fun describing the ‘prominent personage’:
‘What was the exact official position of the prominent personage remains unknown to this day. The reader must know that the prominent personage had but recently become a prominent personage, having up to that time only an insignificant person. Moreover, his present position was not considered prominent in comparison with others still more so. But there is always a circle of people to whom what is insignificant in the eyes of others, is important enough.’In doing this, Gogol is playing with the conventions of the story form. These are only mild examples of Gogol’s experimentation, with greater instances found in his masterwork Dead Souls.
Take what you will from this review of an intriguing writer. The nods do not fully compliment his skill. But for those interested greater short reads lie ahead, including the ridiculous The Nose. For those put off by such critical thoughts masquerading as foolishness, it is best stay away from Nikolai Gogol… but try not to stay away for too long.
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