The Mantle and Other Stories

The Mantle and Other Stories

Author: Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Publisher: Library of Alexandria

Published: 2020-09-28

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1465591435

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As a novel-writer and a dramatist, Gogol appears to me to deserve a minute study, and if the knowledge of Russian were more widely spread, he could not fail to obtain in Europe a reputation equal to that of the best English humorists. A delicate and close observer, quick to detect the absurd, bold in exposing, but inclined to push his fun too far, Gogol is in the first place a very lively satirist. He is merciless towards fools and rascals, but he has only one weapon at his disposalÑirony. This is a weapon which is too severe to use against the merely absurd, and on the other hand it is not sharp enough for the punishment of crime; and it is against crime that Gogol too often uses it. His comic vein is always too near the farcical, and his mirth is hardly contagious. If sometimes he makes his reader laugh, he still leaves in his mind a feeling of bitterness and indignation; his satires do not avenge society, they only make it angry. As a painter of manners, Gogol excels in familiar scenes. He is akin to Teniers and Callot. We feel as though we had seen and lived with his characters, for he shows us their eccentricities, their nervous habits, their slightest gestures. One lisps, another mispronounces his words, and a third hisses because he has lost a front tooth. Unfortunately Gogol is so absorbed in this minute study of details that he too often forgets to subordinate them to the main action of the story. To tell the truth, there is no ordered plan in his works, andÑa strange trait in an author who sets up as a realistÑhe takes no care to preserve an atmosphere of probability. His most carefully painted scenes are clumsily connectedÑthey begin and end abruptly; often the author's great carelessness in construction destroys, as though wantonly, the illusion produced by the truth of his descriptions and the naturalness of his conversations.


Book Synopsis The Mantle and Other Stories by : Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Download or read book The Mantle and Other Stories written by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a novel-writer and a dramatist, Gogol appears to me to deserve a minute study, and if the knowledge of Russian were more widely spread, he could not fail to obtain in Europe a reputation equal to that of the best English humorists. A delicate and close observer, quick to detect the absurd, bold in exposing, but inclined to push his fun too far, Gogol is in the first place a very lively satirist. He is merciless towards fools and rascals, but he has only one weapon at his disposalÑirony. This is a weapon which is too severe to use against the merely absurd, and on the other hand it is not sharp enough for the punishment of crime; and it is against crime that Gogol too often uses it. His comic vein is always too near the farcical, and his mirth is hardly contagious. If sometimes he makes his reader laugh, he still leaves in his mind a feeling of bitterness and indignation; his satires do not avenge society, they only make it angry. As a painter of manners, Gogol excels in familiar scenes. He is akin to Teniers and Callot. We feel as though we had seen and lived with his characters, for he shows us their eccentricities, their nervous habits, their slightest gestures. One lisps, another mispronounces his words, and a third hisses because he has lost a front tooth. Unfortunately Gogol is so absorbed in this minute study of details that he too often forgets to subordinate them to the main action of the story. To tell the truth, there is no ordered plan in his works, andÑa strange trait in an author who sets up as a realistÑhe takes no care to preserve an atmosphere of probability. His most carefully painted scenes are clumsily connectedÑthey begin and end abruptly; often the author's great carelessness in construction destroys, as though wantonly, the illusion produced by the truth of his descriptions and the naturalness of his conversations.


The Cloak

The Cloak

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2021-03-11

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13:

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"The Cloak" tells the story of the life and death of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, an unremarkable and indeed pathetic middle-aged titular councillor and copying clerk serving in an unnamed department of the Russian civil service. Though Akaky has very little and is cruelly picked on by his coworkers, Akaky displays no discontentment with his plight, in fact even openly relishing his copying work, in which he appears to find some interesting world of his own. His life is thrown into disarray, however, when he finds that he must buy a new overcoat, a great expense for which he is unprepared. Though he is initially upset by the need for the new overcoat, he soon finds in the quest to save up for and design the new overcoat a higher purpose. The thought of the new overcoat becomes a deep comfort to him, like having a steady companion. The day he receives the coat is the happiest day of his life. However, a turn of events leads to the sudden loss of his coat, and shortly thereafter, of his own life. After his death, Akaky returns as a ghost to haunt St. Petersburg for a time, stealing coats, and in particular the coat of a general who had refused to help Akaky.


Book Synopsis The Cloak by : Nikolai Gogol

Download or read book The Cloak written by Nikolai Gogol and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-03-11 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Cloak" tells the story of the life and death of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, an unremarkable and indeed pathetic middle-aged titular councillor and copying clerk serving in an unnamed department of the Russian civil service. Though Akaky has very little and is cruelly picked on by his coworkers, Akaky displays no discontentment with his plight, in fact even openly relishing his copying work, in which he appears to find some interesting world of his own. His life is thrown into disarray, however, when he finds that he must buy a new overcoat, a great expense for which he is unprepared. Though he is initially upset by the need for the new overcoat, he soon finds in the quest to save up for and design the new overcoat a higher purpose. The thought of the new overcoat becomes a deep comfort to him, like having a steady companion. The day he receives the coat is the happiest day of his life. However, a turn of events leads to the sudden loss of his coat, and shortly thereafter, of his own life. After his death, Akaky returns as a ghost to haunt St. Petersburg for a time, stealing coats, and in particular the coat of a general who had refused to help Akaky.


Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Author: Simms Taback

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 1999-10-01

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13: 0670878553

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Joseph had a little overcoat, but it was full of holes—just like this book! When Joseph's coat got too old and shabby, he made it into a jacket. But what did he make it into after that? And after that? As children turn the pages of this book, they can use the die-cut holes to guess what Joseph will be making next from his amazing overcoat, while they laugh at the bold, cheerful artwork and learn that you can always make something, even out of nothing.


Book Synopsis Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by : Simms Taback

Download or read book Joseph Had a Little Overcoat written by Simms Taback and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1999-10-01 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph had a little overcoat, but it was full of holes—just like this book! When Joseph's coat got too old and shabby, he made it into a jacket. But what did he make it into after that? And after that? As children turn the pages of this book, they can use the die-cut holes to guess what Joseph will be making next from his amazing overcoat, while they laugh at the bold, cheerful artwork and learn that you can always make something, even out of nothing.


The Overcoat

The Overcoat

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1504035437

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Five tragicomic tales from the visionary writer heralded by Vladimir Nabokov as “the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced” A midlevel bureaucrat in the czar’s administration, Poprishchin is hurrying to work when he sees a woman step out of a carriage. Her beauty astounds him, and as she passes by, he hears something impossible: Her dog opens its mouth, and begins to speak. It is Poprishchin’s first step on the road to insanity, a journey that will take him into the depths of hell—and raise him up to the heights of emperors and kings. “Memoirs of a Madman” is one of Nikolai Gogol’s definitive short works, a satire of the excesses of czarist bureaucracy told with wit, empathy, and his signature blend of the real and surreal. Other highlights in this indispensable volume include the haunting title story and “The Nose,” an absurdist masterpiece. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.


Book Synopsis The Overcoat by : Nikolai Gogol

Download or read book The Overcoat written by Nikolai Gogol and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Five tragicomic tales from the visionary writer heralded by Vladimir Nabokov as “the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced” A midlevel bureaucrat in the czar’s administration, Poprishchin is hurrying to work when he sees a woman step out of a carriage. Her beauty astounds him, and as she passes by, he hears something impossible: Her dog opens its mouth, and begins to speak. It is Poprishchin’s first step on the road to insanity, a journey that will take him into the depths of hell—and raise him up to the heights of emperors and kings. “Memoirs of a Madman” is one of Nikolai Gogol’s definitive short works, a satire of the excesses of czarist bureaucracy told with wit, empathy, and his signature blend of the real and surreal. Other highlights in this indispensable volume include the haunting title story and “The Nose,” an absurdist masterpiece. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.


Fiction's Overcoat

Fiction's Overcoat

Author: Edith W. Clowes

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780801441929

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"During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Russian philosophy emerged in conversation with narrative fiction, radical journalism, and speculative theology, developing a distinct cultural discourse with its own claim to authority and truth. Leading Russian thinkers - Berdiaev, Losev, Rozanov, Shestov, and Solovyov - made philosophy the primary forum in which Russians debated metaphysical, aesthetic, and ethical questions as well as issues of individual and national identity. That debate was tragically truncated by the events of 1917 and the rise of the Soviet empire. Today, after seventy years of enforced silence, this particularly Russian philosophical culture has resurfaced. Fiction's Overcoat serves as a welcome guide to its complexities and nuances.".


Book Synopsis Fiction's Overcoat by : Edith W. Clowes

Download or read book Fiction's Overcoat written by Edith W. Clowes and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Russian philosophy emerged in conversation with narrative fiction, radical journalism, and speculative theology, developing a distinct cultural discourse with its own claim to authority and truth. Leading Russian thinkers - Berdiaev, Losev, Rozanov, Shestov, and Solovyov - made philosophy the primary forum in which Russians debated metaphysical, aesthetic, and ethical questions as well as issues of individual and national identity. That debate was tragically truncated by the events of 1917 and the rise of the Soviet empire. Today, after seventy years of enforced silence, this particularly Russian philosophical culture has resurfaced. Fiction's Overcoat serves as a welcome guide to its complexities and nuances.".


The Man with the Overcoat

The Man with the Overcoat

Author: David Finkle

Publisher:

Published: 2015-04-27

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9780992618520

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The life of Skip Gerber - a Manhattan real estate lawyer nudging middle age whose life and career have stalled almost without his noticing it - is turned upside down when a total stranger hands him an overcoat.


Book Synopsis The Man with the Overcoat by : David Finkle

Download or read book The Man with the Overcoat written by David Finkle and published by . This book was released on 2015-04-27 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of Skip Gerber - a Manhattan real estate lawyer nudging middle age whose life and career have stalled almost without his noticing it - is turned upside down when a total stranger hands him an overcoat.


The Overcoat

The Overcoat

Author: Howard Colyer

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2009-07-19

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 1409294846

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Gogol's story of a clerk in St. Petersburg adapted for the stage, and first performed at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in London on 19 January, 2011. "An unforgettable production conjuring the alienating city of St Petersburg under the rigid hierarchy of Tsarist bureaucracy and its unfortunate victim, the wretched Everyman - Bashmachkin." Bernie Whelan, EXTRA! EXTRA! 27 January, 2011. "The Overcoat is a play with serious literary pedigree." Paul Prowse, South London Press, 28 January, 2011. "An hour of mesmerizing theatre." Atomies.org, 29 January, 2011.


Book Synopsis The Overcoat by : Howard Colyer

Download or read book The Overcoat written by Howard Colyer and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-07-19 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gogol's story of a clerk in St. Petersburg adapted for the stage, and first performed at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in London on 19 January, 2011. "An unforgettable production conjuring the alienating city of St Petersburg under the rigid hierarchy of Tsarist bureaucracy and its unfortunate victim, the wretched Everyman - Bashmachkin." Bernie Whelan, EXTRA! EXTRA! 27 January, 2011. "The Overcoat is a play with serious literary pedigree." Paul Prowse, South London Press, 28 January, 2011. "An hour of mesmerizing theatre." Atomies.org, 29 January, 2011.


The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-08-17

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 0307803368

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Using, or rather mimicking, traditional forms of storytelling Gogol created stories that are complete within themselves and only tangentially connected to a meaning or moral. His work belongs to the school of invention, where each twist and turn of the narrative is a surprise unfettered by obligation to an overarching theme. Selected from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Mirgorod, and the Petersburg tales and arranged in order of composition, the thirteen stories in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogolencompass the breadth of Gogol's literary achievement. From the demon-haunted “St. John's Eve ” to the heartrending humiliations and trials of a titular councilor in “The Overcoat,” Gogol's knack for turning literary conventions on their heads combined with his overt joy in the art of story telling shine through in each of the tales. This translation, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is as vigorous and darkly funny as the original Russian. It allows readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostevsky and Kafka.


Book Synopsis The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by : Nikolai Gogol

Download or read book The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol written by Nikolai Gogol and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-08-17 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using, or rather mimicking, traditional forms of storytelling Gogol created stories that are complete within themselves and only tangentially connected to a meaning or moral. His work belongs to the school of invention, where each twist and turn of the narrative is a surprise unfettered by obligation to an overarching theme. Selected from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Mirgorod, and the Petersburg tales and arranged in order of composition, the thirteen stories in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogolencompass the breadth of Gogol's literary achievement. From the demon-haunted “St. John's Eve ” to the heartrending humiliations and trials of a titular councilor in “The Overcoat,” Gogol's knack for turning literary conventions on their heads combined with his overt joy in the art of story telling shine through in each of the tales. This translation, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is as vigorous and darkly funny as the original Russian. It allows readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostevsky and Kafka.


The Overcoat

The Overcoat

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Publisher: Dramatic Publishing

Published: 1995-05

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9780871295682

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It is not necessary to say much about this 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, so here is Petrovitch the tailor. At first he was called only Grigoriy, and was some gentleman's serf; he commenced calling himself Petrovitch from the time when he received his free papers, and further began to drink heavily on all holidays, at first on the great ones, and then on all church festivities without discrimination, wherever a cross stood in the calendar.


Book Synopsis The Overcoat by : Nikolai Gogol

Download or read book The Overcoat written by Nikolai Gogol and published by Dramatic Publishing. This book was released on 1995-05 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is not necessary to say much about this 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, so here is Petrovitch the tailor. At first he was called only Grigoriy, and was some gentleman's serf; he commenced calling himself Petrovitch from the time when he received his free papers, and further began to drink heavily on all holidays, at first on the great ones, and then on all church festivities without discrimination, wherever a cross stood in the calendar.


Proust's Overcoat

Proust's Overcoat

Author: Lorenza Foschini

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-07-18

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 0062005464

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“A rare and wonderfully written book of literary detection that is heartbreaking as well as thrilling.” —Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient In the tradition of Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman comes Proust’s Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini—the charming, endlessly intriguing story of a collector’s obsessive search for the personal effects of legendary author Marcel Proust. This fascinating true story introduces readers to a truly delightful character—Jacques Guérin, owner of a perfume company in France—and enthralls them with his relentless lifelong pursuit of all things Proustian, even the author’s most mundane possessions.


Book Synopsis Proust's Overcoat by : Lorenza Foschini

Download or read book Proust's Overcoat written by Lorenza Foschini and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-07-18 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A rare and wonderfully written book of literary detection that is heartbreaking as well as thrilling.” —Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient In the tradition of Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman comes Proust’s Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini—the charming, endlessly intriguing story of a collector’s obsessive search for the personal effects of legendary author Marcel Proust. This fascinating true story introduces readers to a truly delightful character—Jacques Guérin, owner of a perfume company in France—and enthralls them with his relentless lifelong pursuit of all things Proustian, even the author’s most mundane possessions.