The Mantle, and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by Nikolai Gogol. The title story follows a humble clerk and his cherished overcoat, while other tales mix bureaucratic satire, folklore, and the fantastic. Gogol's humane, vivid prose makes these stories rewarding to listen to.
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Cover of the original edition (Project Gutenberg, public domain).
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
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THE
MANTLE
AND OTHER STORIES
Printed in Great Britain
THE MANTLE AND
OTHER STORIES
BY
NICHOLAS GOGOL
AUTHOR OF
“DEAD SOULS,” “TARAS BULBA,” ETC.
TRANSLATED BY CLAUD FIELD
AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION ON GOGOL
BY
PROSPER MERIMÉE New York: FREDERICK A. STOKES Co. London: T. WERNER LAURIE LIMITED “Gogol, Nikolai Vassilievitch. Born in the government of Pultowa, March 31 (N.S.), 1809, died at Moscow, March 4 (N.S.), 1852. A Russian novelist and dramatist. He was educated in a public gymnasium at Pultowa, and subsequently in the lyceum, then newly established, at Niejinsk. In 1831 he was appointed teacher of history at the Patriotic Institution, a place which he exchanged in 1834 for the professorship of history in the University of St Petersburg. This he resigned at the end of a year and devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1836 Gogol left Russia. He lived most of the time in Rome. In 1837 he wrote ‘Dead Souls.’ In 1840 he went to Russia for a short period in order to superintend the publication of the first volume of ‘Dead Souls,’ and then returned to Italy. In 1846 he returned to Russia and fell into a state of fanatical mysticism. One of his last acts was to burn the manuscript of the concluding portion of ‘Dead Souls,’ which he considered harmful. He also wrote ‘The Mantle,’ ‘Evenings at the Farm,’ ‘St Petersburg Stories,’ ‘Taras Bulba,’ a tale of the Cossacks, ‘The Revizor,’ a comedy, etc.”—From The Century Cyclopædia of Names. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 7 THE MANTLE 19 THE NOSE 67 MEMOIRS OF A MADMAN 107