Classically Yours: Reading 'The Overcoat' and 'The Nose' by Nikolai Gogol

We're picking up the 19th century novellas 'The Overcoat', followed by 'The Nose', both written by Nikolai Gogol, for Classically Yours: PWG's Classic Books club.

Join us on Monday, March 16th 2026, at 8 pm, as we introduce the books and author and start our reading of the classic.

The first session is introductory, and we will read the books over the coming weeks, discussing it every week.

Link for the Session:
https://meet.google.com/tnt-fnkp-uhp

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ABOUT THE SESSION:

A classic is a book that is best explained as 'a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.' In 'Why Read the Classics?', Italo Calvino says, 'your classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him.'

So, if you read: why NOT the classics should be the question, not why. This initiative is for those patient folks who are willing to be engaged in dialogues with these sometimes daunting books. It is a load best shared, which is why this group has been created.

All are welcome, the only caveat being that you commit wholeheartedly. The group is designed for a small number people, small being the operative word here. Something will and does get diluted in large numbers, which we are looking to avoid. If you find one of our planned books not to be up your alley, you can just recuse yourself, and hopefully, we can meet up again later over another book that might catch your fancy.

THE BOOKS:

The Nose
The Nose is a wildly absurd tale in which a minor official wakes up to find his nose missing—and apparently living a higher-ranking life than he is. Through this surreal premise, Gogol gleefully satirizes vanity, social status, and the fragile identities people build around rank.

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The Overcoat
The Overcoat follows Akaky Akakievich, a timid clerk whose life changes when he finally acquires a long-desired new coat. Blending humor and pathos, Gogol turns a simple story about a garment into a powerful portrait of loneliness, dignity, and the quiet struggles of ordinary life.

THE AUTHOR:

Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) was a master of satire whose stories blend comedy, absurdity, and sharp social observation. His work exposed the vanity and bureaucracy of everyday life in imperial Russia while revealing the strange anxieties beneath ordinary existence. Deeply influential on writers from Dostoevsky to Kafka, Gogol showed how humor and the bizarre could illuminate serious truths about status, identity, and human dignity.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Shankar has been a lifelong reader and aspiring writer and is located in Pune currently.