When the third volume of Sochineniia Nikolaia Gogolia [Works of Nikolai Gogol], dated 1842, was finally published, after a delay caused by the censor, in 1843, it included a new story. Begun in 1839, it was entitled Shinel’, (normally translated as The Overcoat, but sometimes as The Greatcoat or The Cloak) and initially attracted little attention. Even the critic Vissarion Belinsky, who had hailed Gogol as the exponent of a new type of literature, only mentions the work en passant. Like three stories published in 1835 – Nevskii Prospekt [Nevsky Prospect], Zapiski sumasshedshego [Notes (or Diary) of a Madman], and Portret [The Portrait], and one, Nos [The Nose] published in 1836 – it is set in St Petersburg and, indeed, is often published as one of the Peterburgskie povesti [Petersburg Tales], a title Gogol himself...
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Citation: Pursglove, Michael. "Shinel'". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23220, accessed 09 June 2026.]
