The Overcoat (The Cloak) by Nikolai Gogol - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review 

Nikolai Gogol Playlist: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JuQl7MtZdJk.html Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/thecodexcantina TABLE OF CONTENTS: 0:00 Introductions 0:37 Publication Info 2:06 Plot Summary 4:41 Analysis 22:04 Wrap up and Ratings

A very complex story. Gogol's description of St. Petersburg is quite significant, too - it is almost like a separate character (not only in this story, but also in Russian literature as a whole). My favorite quote was "the wind, as its way is in St. Petersburg, blew upon him from all points of the compass and from every side street". Having lived in this city, I can confirm that this is very typical 😄 Gogol was definitely a genius, and there are so many layers to this story. Thanks for sharing your point of view!

Nice discussion of this fabulous work, I really liked it. Regarding Akaky Akakievich’s name, you are quite correct. If you remember that a Russian’s middle name (patronymic) is taken from the father (for example, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy means ‘Lev, son of Nikolai, Tolstoy), you can appreciate that a Russian reading his name gets a sense of something like “Poopy, son of poop, the downtrodden”. Indeed, his name even reverberates when he dies in the story. His death is described in two words: ispustil dukh. While this a literary way of saying something like ‘he took his last breath,’ the phrase actually means something closer to ‘let out wind’, which is quite appropriate for somebody called Akaky Akakievich… Incidentally, regarding the table of ranks, it’s important to note, I think, that civil servants would aspire to reach at least level eight (Collegiate Assessor) because this came with hereditary nobility. All the ranks had military equivalents, so civil servants at the upper end of the table would often refer to themselves by their military equivalents, such as ‘general,’ despite not serving in the military because it sounded more impressive. I know that you mentioned that you will be looking at Gogol’s The Nose at some time in the future, and I am looing forward to seeing your take on it (I can’t imagine Kafka ever writing his masterful Metamorphosis without the influence of The Nose). Of Gogol’s Petersburg stories, probably the easiest for a contemporary reader is Diary of a Madman. If you haven’t read it, I would urge you to do so (it’s somewhat shorter than The Overcoat and much, much funnier, but with the pathos that runs throughout the Petersburg tales, a phenomenon the Russians refer to as ‘laughter through tears’). Thanks again for your efforts!

This one sounds really good. I've never heard it , but the Russian theme of using a blizzard as a symbol representing inescapable fate is suuuper vivid and powerful. *and potentially tragic* I love when you guys are able to point out the literary techniques used to "hide" even more meaning into these texts.

I read the nose and then read this after hearing you mention it in your nose review. Thanks so much for recommendation and great work

I'm so happy ya'll made this. My Studies in Fiction Prof. posted a link that was to one of those unnatural mechanical voiced videos. It was just awful, and this...this is great.

Thanks gents... enjoyed the breakdown of that great Gogol story

I'm taking Russian Literature in college right now and this was extremely helpful! Thanks guys!

Boy oh boy . I loved this story ...the light touch humour that never strays into cruelty , breaking the fourth wall with asides , the pathos and the mysterious revenge at the end .

Fantastic analysis of a fantastic story! The puns in Arkaky are killer. I agree with the references on how Russian culture became more materialistic but also continued to exclude an enormous amount of the population, and this story doesn’t even get into the peasants or serfs. Do you think that the various hauntings at the end are Arkaky’s way of “going up the appropriate channels”? The story is a real sine wave: low start, peak on the new cloak, brought low again, and then the haunting! Great work on this. Best, Jack

Thanks for the Introduction!! I will read it again now :)

Messi and Godin really took a complex novel into another level

You guys are awesome, I'd like to see your channel have 1 million subscribers

Awesome dive into this story guys. I enjoyed Learning about this story

Thanks so much for the review. I watched the movie Namasake which brought me here. The name Gogol makes a lot more sense and relevance to me now.

Watch 1959 Russian movie directed by Batalov. It’s amazing and almost reminds me of phantasmagoria that we would later see in Tim Burton and Wes Anderson

Couldn't give it the 10...also near the end you guys had me thinking about Snowpiercer hard core.

Gogol is actually Ukrainian, he just wrote mostly in russian language

Lovely discussion

Thank you guys for digging into one of my favorite stories of all time. My personal take on this story is simply how tragedy lies behind even something as innocent as getting a new coat.

Saw the movie 'Namesake.. which brought me here..how do we come out of Gogol's overcoat ..

I'm not sure but maybe he also uses a ghost since ghosts are often portrayed being covered By a sheet or a cloak.

Can you do bezhin mea from a Hunter's Sketches by Ivan Turgenev. The entire collection is fantastic but this story is brilliantly narrated

Great Breakdown. Makes me think of Professor Poopypants.

One of the greats - you guys should check out Nikolai Leskov if you want a 19th C Russian author to really dig into

If there was nothing else I learned today, at least I learned what the Russian word is for poop.

❤️❤️

RIP poop poopson fr

I disagree with your opinion at the end. I don't think you have to know a lot about Russian class system. I think this is the beauty of the story... EVERYONE (except Donald trump and his ilk) can identify with AA just as a person not just because he is of a Lower class in Russia. Every country has poor people and characters like AA