The Overcoat, Gogol

"Everyone has a "superior" of some sort."

Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat is a classic of Russian literature and a foundational work of psychological realism. The story follows Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, a low-ranking, painfully meek government clerk in St. Petersburg whose life is defined by routine, social invisibility, and emotional repression. Akaky’s obsession with acquiring a new overcoat represents more than material need; it symbolizes his yearning for dignity, warmth, and human recognition in a cold and indifferent society.

The Overcoat deeply influenced writers like Dostoevsky and Kafka with its blend of realism, dark satire, and psychological depth. It asks: What happens when a human being is seen only as a function? Gogol’s haunting answer laid the groundwork for generations of existential and psychological literature.

Bring anything that makes you feel comfortable.

We will be in room 3-20A at the Central Library.