Nikolai Gogol

Dead Souls, The Overcoat — Russian grotesque

The great comic-grotesque genius of Russian literature. Dead Souls — a picaresque about a man buying the names of dead serfs — is Russia's Don Quixote. The Overcoat, about a clerk destroyed by the loss of his coat, is the seed from which all Russian realist fiction grew. Dostoevsky reportedly said: 'We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat.'

Key works

• Dead Souls1842— Russia's comic epic — a con man tours the provinces
• The Overcoat1842— A clerk, a coat, and the abyss
• The Government Inspector1836— Satire of provincial corruption — still performed worldwide

Connections

External