"On Gogol's The Overcoat,'" translated by Priscilla Meyer and Steven Rudy, in Dostoevsky & Gogol: Texts and Criticism, edited by Priscilla Meyer and Steven Rudy, Ardis, 1979, pp. 137-60. The excerpt below was originally published in Russian in 1938 in the journal Sovremennye zapiski. Here, Chizhevsky looks at the frequent use of the word dazhe, "even," and argues that this textual detail helps establish the narrative style and tone of the story as well as pro...

"The Structure of Gogol's The Overcoat,'" translated by Beth Paul and Muriel Nesbitt in Russian Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, October, 1963, pp. 377-99. In this essay, which was first published in Russian in 1919, Eichenbaum examines the narrative devices of "The Overcoat" and discusses their relationship to the structure of the story. He argues that the comic and pathetic elements work together to create a grotesque style.

"Gogol: The Greatcoat," in The Voice of a Giant: Essays on Seven Russian Prose Classics, edited by Roger Cockrell and David Richards, University of Exeter, 1985, pp. 27-40. In this essay Peace examines the role of word play in "The Overcoat," which, he argues, elucidates Gogol's central device of having the external world act as a metaphor for the internal world of the main character.

"Who Stole Whose Overcoat and Whose Text Is It?" in South Atlantic Review, Vol. 55, No. 1, January, 1990, pp. 63-80. In the following essay, Peppard compares "The Overcoat" to stories in the supernatural genre with which Gogol was most likely familiar, in order to determine whether the conclusion is intended by Gogol to be supernatural or mundane.

"Narrative Structure," in Structure, Style and Interpretation in the Russian Short Story, Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 20-36. In this excerpt, O'Toole examines several structural elements that he finds determining factors in the ultimate theme of the story.

"Pavlov's 'Demon' and Gogol's Overcoat'," in Slavic Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, June, 1974, pp. 288-301. Below, Shepard postulates that "The Demon" by N. F. Pavlov inspired "The Overcoat" and that in some ways Gogol's story is a response to Pavlov's.

"Epic Intentions," in The Creation of Nikolai Gogol, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 145-63. In the following excerpt the critic outlines the techniques which he argues make the theme of "The Overcoat" elusive.

"The Apotheosis of a Mask," in Nikolai Gogol, New Directions, 1944, 139-50. A Russian-born American man of letters perhaps best known for the novels Lolita (1955) and Pale Fire (1962), Nabokov was a prolific contributor to many literary fields. He was fascinated with all aspects of the creative life: in his works, he explored the origins of creativity, the relationships of artists to their work, and the nature of invented reality. In the following essay Nabokov extols Gogol's abstract a...

"Meaning and Indeterminacy in Gogol's The Overcoat'," in Literary Generations: A Festschrift in Honor of Edward D. Sullivan, edited by Alain Toumayan, French Forum, 1992, pp. 48-54. Here, the Brombert examines several possible interpretations of "The Overcoat" and argues that Gogol purposely made the story difficult to interpret because he "delighted in verbal acts as a game . . . that implied the autonomy of narrative style" from plot and meaning.

The Sexual Labyrinth of Nikolai Gogol, Harvard University Press, 1976, 333 p. In this thematic study the critic argues that Gogol's story is a romantic tale with the overcoat representing the love interest.

"Gogol's 'Perfectly True' Tale: The Overcoat' and Its Mode of Closure," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 14, No. 1, Winter, 1977, pp. 35-40. Here, Proffitt examines the purpose of the "fantastic ending" of "The Overcoat," concluding that it was intended by the author as a parody of poetic justice.

"Gogol's 'The Overcoat' as a Travesty of Hagiography," in Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring, 1972, pp. 36-41. In this essay Schillinger asserts that "The Overcoat" is "a travesty of the saints' calendar account of St. Acacius of Sinai, and to some extent of hagiography itself ."