The Cloak, Nikolai Gogol
The Cloak, Nikolai Gogol
List: $12.00 | Sale: $8.41
Club: $6.00

The Cloak

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Unabridged: 1 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/20/2015


Synopsis

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a preeminent Ukrainian-born story writer. He is particularly famous for those stories which veer in the direction of surrealism and the grotesque.

The Cloak is one such tale. Akaky Akakiyevich is a reclusive and widely ridiculed lower official whose job is to copy letters. He lives a hand-to-mouth existence with his elderly landlady and has little money. But the harsh weather in St. Petersburg necessitates the purchase of a new cloak. His existing cloak, threadbare and filthy, is the butt of jokes among his comrades, and the tailor refuses to patch it up any further.

Akaky Akakiyevich has somehow to scrape together the money for a new one. As he begins to save for it, the cloak begins to take on a much greater significance in his life. He dreams of it, visualises it, plans it with the tailor and scrimps and saves until the glorious day when he is able to actually commission its manufacture.

The cloak is his pride and joy...but disaster waits around the corner. And in true Gogol style, the story takes a weird twist.

About Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist. Considered the father of modern Russian realism, his best-known works are the novels Dead Souls and Taras Bul'ba, the play The Inspector-General, and the short stories "Diary of a Madman," "The Nose," and "The Overcoat." With their scrupulous and scathing realism, ethical criticism, and philosophical depth, they remain some of the most important works of world literature. However, because much of Gogol's writing satirized the corrupt bureaucracy of the Russian Empire, he was temporarily exiled from Russia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on February 29, 2020

It is a simple tale, on the surface. Akaky Akakievich (literally "Harmless Son-of-Harmless," but which might sound like "Poopy Pooperson” to a child), an impoverished civil servant and scrivener, must maintain his respectability by possessing a decent overcoat. How he gains a new overcoat, loses tha......more

Goodreads review by فايز غازي on February 19, 2024

- قصة قصيرة.. عدد صفحاتها بسيط، معانيها تتعدى هذا العدد بأشواط، والمغزى منها عميق ودقيق. (view spoiler)[ - ينطلق غوغول من فكرة بسيطة، لموظف عادي، معاشه قليل، حياته رتيبة، عقله محدود، بسيط الى حد السذاجة، وفقير الحال ليبني عليه نقداً لاذعاً للمجتمع التافه، الساخر، المادي والسطحي. - يلقي غوغول الضوء على البيروقراطية ال (hide spoiler)]......more

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on May 30, 2020

2020 update: I'm bumping this up to all 5 stars on reread. This Russian tale of an introverted man and his trials relating to an expensive (for him) overcoat really hit me on second read. The characterization is so in-depth for a shorter work, especially as it relates to Akaky, the main character, h......more

Goodreads review by Mark on February 02, 2023

Re-read commenced 30th Jan 2023 Some additional comments to my previous review. This second read was a lot of fun, as I obviously know our character a little better - and he still pulls at the heartstrings. I mean, the poor guy - all he wanted (and needed) was a new overcoat. In fact, when he asked h......more