When Nikolai Gogol's story "The Overcoat" appeared as part of his multivolume Collected Works in 1842, Gogol's prestige amongst the contentious Russian literary critics of the day was relatively secure. It was a time of rigid censorship and sometimes vindictive reviews, but Gogol had already won the support of powerful allies, including the famous (though recently deceased) poet Alexander Pushkin and prominent critic Vissarion Belinsky. More importantly perhaps, the Czar himself seemed to look favorably on Gogol's work. In fact, Gogol's harshest critic may have been Gogol himself. Halfway through a self-imposed twelve-year exile from Russia, he was beginning a period of intense selfdoubt and spiritual uncertainty that would last for the remaining ten years of his life.

"The Overcoat" and most of Gogol's other works have enjoyed both critical and popular success in Russia and elsewhere since their first appearance. Following Belinsky's interpretation, Gogol came to...