Sonkowsky has taught English at the University of Pennsylvania. In the following essay, he examines the "multiplicity of meanings" in Gogol's short story and asserts that it "[sheds] light . . . on modern life as it is experienced everywhere."

"The Overcoat" was the last short story Nikolai Gogol ever wrote, and many consider it to be his finest. Even setting aside his other literary accomplishments—writing a great stage comedy (The Inspector General ) and the first great epic Russian novel (Dead Souls)—it is difficult to overestimate the importance of Gogol's work in introducing the short story as a literary form in Russia.

Beginning in 1831 with the publication of a collection of tales set in his native Ukraine (Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) and culminating in 1842 with the appearance of "The Overcoat," Gogol developed a new form that is still in use today by writers in...