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 Greatcoator
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[
2115 words
Citation: Pursglove, Michael. "Shinel'". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23220, accessed 19 April 2024.]
