Read this when
The Overcoat
Mocked at work, invisible to your boss, and the one nice thing you saved for gets taken. Gogol wrote about you in 1842, and he was on your side. 🧥
Who it's for
Akaky is a clerk everyone mocks and no one sees, and the story makes the reader laugh at him at first, then stop short, just as one young colleague does when he hears in Akaky's plea to be left alone something like 'I am your brother'.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Nikolai Gogol's short story follows Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, a poor government copying clerk in St. Petersburg whose threadbare overcoat makes him the butt of his younger colleagues' jokes. When his tailor says the old coat cannot be repaired, Akaky scrimps to buy a fine new one, which briefly brings him attention and celebration at an office party.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US in older translations (e.g., Claud Field's, published as 'The Mantle'; check Project Gutenberg); the Pevear & Volokhonsky collection is in copyright, in print and in libraries.
Before you start
Heads up: Bullying and a lonely death.
Age: Ages 12+
Tiny grass, your steps are small, but you possess the earth under your tread.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 65
