The Cloak: A Novella
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 4.5- Word count
- 77K words
- Chapters
- 8
Tags
Foreign Language Books Foreign Literature Tsarist RussiaHuman NaturePsychological PortrayalTragicomedyPower OppressionSocial CritiqueSocial CritiqueAbsurd SatireRussian LiteratureSummary
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Der Mantel: Eine Novelle by Nikolai Vasilevich GogolAuthor: Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852,Language: German, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Feb 3, 2009Editor's review
Der Mantel: Eine Novelle is the German translation of Gogol's celebrated novella The Overcoat. The story revolves around a lowly clerk who expends all his energy on a new overcoat, depicting the distress and dignity of a small man in a coldly ironic tone. Within a minimal plot, Gogol embeds a wealth of detail and shifts in tone, pushing everyday trifles to the border between the absurd and the compassionate; it is regarded as an important work of Russian realism and satirical literature. This German edition serves well as German reading practice and will also appeal to readers interested in the "small man" theme in Russian literature. As it is a translation, readers may note how German carries the original's comic tone and the narrator's voice. It is short and well suited to close reading chapter by chapter; afterwards one can compare it with translations in other languages to compare how key passages are handled.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Intermediate learners of German who wish to read literary works in translation
- Literature readers studying Russian realism and the "small man" theme
- Commuters who enjoy short satirical fiction of moderate length
Not a good fit for
- Complete beginners with no German who wish to read the original directly
- Readers who prefer long, intricately plotted stories with strong dramatic conflict
Reading tips
- Read closely section by section, retelling the plot after each to check comprehension.
- Watch for shifts in the narrator's tone and mark sentences where irony and compassion intertwine.
- After finishing, compare with the Chinese or other translations to compare how key passages are handled.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
FAQ
Which work by Gogol is this?
This is the German translation of Gogol's novella The Overcoat; the German title Der Mantel means "the overcoat." It tells of a lowly clerk's efforts on behalf of an overcoat.Can I read this German edition without any Russian?
Yes, but you need some German reading ability. It is a German translation, not the Russian original, so no Russian is required, though German literary syntax still takes some getting used to.Why is this story often mentioned in literary history?
It portrays the plight of a small man through a minimal plot, pushing everyday trifles to the border of the absurd and the compassionate, in a coldly ironic narrative tone; it is regarded as a representative short story of Russian realism and the small-man theme.Is it suitable for reading in one sitting?
It is short enough to read in one sitting, but reading it slowly chapter by chapter is recommended, noting the narrator's tone and the details laid in, so as to better appreciate the tension between irony and compassion.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852 AuthorNikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809–1852) was a Russian writer, born in what is now Ukraine, known for his fiction and drama. The collection here holds 24 of his works, including the novel Dead Souls, the comedy The Inspector-General, and shorter works such as The Mantle, Viitta, and The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich. His writing often uses satire to portray bureaucratic habits and the fate of ordinary little people, shifting between the grotesque and the realistic. He is regarded as one of the founders of Russian realist literature and has had a lasting influence on later fiction and drama. Some details of his life are limited in public sources, so this note focuses on his themes and style.