Шинель и другие повести

Translated by Claud Field

УДК 
372.8
ББК 
84(2Рос=Рус)
 
81.2 Англ
 
Г 58

ISBN 978-5-9925-0974-8

 
Гоголь Н. В.
Г 58 
Шинель и другие повести: пер. с рус. Клода 
Филда.  — СПб.: КАРО, 2014. — 256 с.: ил. — (Русская классическая литература на иностранных 
языках).

ISBN 978-5-9925-0974-8.

Вашему вниманию представлен сборник повестей одного из самых известных русских писателей-классиков Н. В. Гоголя. В издание вошли как повести, относящиеся к «украинскому» периоду творчества автора — «Майская ночь, или 
Утопленница» и «Вий», так и к «петербургскому» — «Нос», 
«Шинель», «Записки сумасшедшего». Выбранные произведения показывают два мира, описанных Гоголем с непередаваемым юмором и глубокой печалью, — красочную простоту 
украинского села и мрачную фантастичность жизни столичного Санкт-Петербурга.
Английский перевод повестей с русского языка, выполненный Клодом Филдом, снабжен постраничными, в большей степени культурологическими, комментариями. Книга 
адресована студентам языковых вузов, носителям языка и 
всем любителям русской классической литературы.

УДК 372.8
ББК 84(2Рос=Рус)
81.2 Англ

© КАРО, 2014

THE MANTLE 
AND OTHER STORIES
by
Nicolay Gogol

Translated by Claud Field

This short novel collection of one of the most renowned Russian 
classic authors Nicolay Gogol includes novels of writer’s both “Ukrainian Period” — “A May Night and the Drowned Maiden”, “The Viy” 
and the “Petersburg Period” — “Memoirs of a Madman”, “The Nose” 
and “The Mantle”. The selected short novels introduce the reader to 
the two worlds described by Gogol with inimitable humour and deep 
sorrow — the colourful simplicity of Ukrainian village and the dark 
whimsicality of St. Petersburg’s capital city life.
The English translation of the short novels made by Claud Field 
is complemented with footnotes mostly of culturological nature. The 
book may be of interest to the University or College students who 
study English, the native English speakers and everyone who admires 
Russian Classic Literature.

LIFE AND WORKS 
OF NICOLAY GOGOL

Th e classic of the Russian literature, the most peculiar 
Russian writer of the first half of the 19th century, 
Nicolay Vasilyevich Gogol (1809–1852), was born in a 
family of a landowner in the Mirgorod district of the 
Poltava province. 
In 1828 he moved to St. Petersburg where he tried 
his hand as an offi  cial, an actor, a tutor, and it was there 
that he started to write.
In the fall of 1831 he published the collection of 
novels “Evenings on the Farm Near Dikanka” (1831–
1832) which made the writer well-known and opened a 
new direction in the Russian literature. Th e period of 
1832–1836 became the most fruitful in the life of the 
writer. He published two collections of stories, each of 
them became a cornerstone of the whole direction of 
develop ment of the Russian literature.
In 1833 the collected stories “Mirgorod” was published which included the stories “Old-world Landowners”, 
“Taras Bulba”, “Th e Viy”, “A story about the quarrel of 
Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich”. Mirgorod is the 
name of a town in the Ukraine near Dikanka, but this 

LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAY GOGOL 

5

collection of stories also continued the line of “Evenings”, 
and the language and style of the writer became even more 
perfect in a diff erent way. Instead of the expected amusing 
stories with a lot of folklore legends and inimitable soft  
humour in “Mirgorod” the readers found an absolutely 
special prose: historical dramas, mystical stories and works 
which can be considered as the masterpieces of realistic 
art.
In 1835 Gogol published the collection of stories 
“Arabesques”. Th e author included stories “Th e Portrait”, 
“Nevsky Prospect”, “Memoirs of a Madman” in it. Later 
these short stories along with the novels “Th e Nose”, and 
“Th e Mantle” became part of a new cycle, “Th e Peters burg 
Stories”. Th e action takes place in St. Petersburg, and the 
author created a special, unique, realistic on the bound of 
irreality world of the capital of the Russian Empire. Nicolay 
Gogol created in the Russian literature an idea of Petersburg 
as a strange, mystical and semi-mythical city.
In 1836 he accomplished his long-time dream and 
wrote the comedy “Th e Inspector-General”. Novelty and 
a sublime witticism of this play which struck the general 
public and caused hot disputes, brought to Gogol the 
glory which didn’t leave him to the end of his days.
At the end of 1836 Nicolay Gogol went abroad where 
he spent about 12 years in the continuous work on the 
main novel of his life, “Dead souls”. Th is novel, though 
the author called it the poem, is still a sample of the 
Russian prose, and at the time of the publication in 
unconditionally made the author the greatest writer and 
“the master of thoughts”. Aft er the publication of the fi rst 

LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAY  GOGOL

volume of the poem (1842) the work on the second 
volume continued with great difficulty. In 1845 the 
author burned it because he considered his own attempt 
to carry out the task unsuccessful. His idea had been to 
represent convincingly and truly positive, not just 
negative as in the fi rst part, the best qualities of the 
human soul. In 1848, aft er his pilgrimage to the Holy 
Land, Gogol returned home. By the beginning of 1852 
he prepared for edition the second volume of “Dead 
souls”, but shortly in a condition of the deep mental 
desorder the writer burned the new edition and a few 
days later he died.

***
Th is edition includes stories from all three collections: 
“A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden” (“Evenings on 
the Farm Near Dikanka”), “Th e Viy” (“Mirgorod”), “Th e 
Nose”, “The Mantle” and “Memoirs of a Madman” 
(“Arabesques”, “Th e Petersburg Stories”).
Th e story “A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden” is 
written by Gogol on the basis of the folklore impressions 
which he received in Poltava. National beliefs and 
legends create a special color, the captivating bright 
picture representing a love story of the young Cossack 
Levko and the girl Ganna.
Th e legendary and unreal basis of “Th e Viy” allows 
to connect this work with stories from “Evenings”, but 
the fantastic situations appear here in an absolutely real 
and homely space of the 17th century. According to 
Slavic legends the stare of the powerful being the Viy 

LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAY GOGOL 

7

could not only kill the unfortunate person, but destroy 
and incinerate the whole village as well. In Gogol’s work 
the gaze doesn’t kill, but removes the magic force of all 
talismans against evil spirits. But this mythical being 
appears only at the end of the story, and the ordinary 
Kiev student-seminarist who has been released on 
vacation becomes the main character of the story. On 
his way he unexpectedly faces the whole army of evil 
spirits which he hopes to annihilate.
“Th e Petersburg Stories” opened new ways in the 
Russian literature. For the fi rst time a life of “a slight man” 
(a man belonging to lower class) is closely observed and 
investigated in literature. Th e author penetrated into 
psychology of the person suff ering not from pangs of 
love, but from the most ordinary problems so deeply. It 
is considered that the realism and psychologism for 
which classical Russian literature became famous, 
originate from these works. To characterise the literature 
of the 19th century, they oft en say, “All of us came from 
Gogol`s ‘Mantle’”. But aft er all it is impossible to call 
Gogol the perfect realist like his followers of the middle 
of the 19th century. In his works life always balances on 
the brink of reality and fantasy. Th is trend of mixing 
these two was continued in the Russian literature only 
in the 20th century by Mikhail Bulgakov.
In the story “Memoirs of a Madman” Gogol did not 
seek to represent only a mental condition of the insane 
person; this is an acute satire on the falsehood and 
injustice of the public relations based on the power of 
rank and money. Th e story shows us the diary of the 

LIFE AND WORKS OF NICOLAY  GOGOL

main character, Axanti Ivanovitch Poprishchin, some 
insignificant Petersburg official. The feelings and 
reasonings of this unremarkable person at first are 
amusing but then they drive him crazy and touch the 
soul of the reader.
In “Th e Nose” the principles of grotesqueness run 
into absurdity; the irreality which is so peculiar to almost 
all works of Gogol is realized to the full. Th e offi  cial 
Kovaloff  wakes up one morning without his nose, instead 
of the nose there is absolutely nothing. And the nose, as 
is told further, begins to live its own life. Th is story is 
considered one of the most unusual plots in the world 
literature.
Th e story “Th e Mantle” is traditionally interpreted as 
a sign of protest against the social inequality, cruelty of 
bureaucrats and the sad fate of lower classes. Th e story 
“Th e Mantle” tells the reader about the life of a so-called 
“slight man”, Akaki Akakievitch Bashmatchkin, a poor 
functionary from St. Petersburg. Even his name tells 
about the extreme mediocrity of the hero. Th e tragedy 
of his life is his old overcoat which in time became 
completely worthless. He was compelled to stint in 
absolutely everything to buy himself a new coat… Th e 
short happiness of his life is the subject of this story, 
which became one of the most important in classical 
Russian literature.
We hope, the stories included in this collection will 
give the reader the fi rst and distinct idea of the works of 
Nicolay Gogol, the great writer and one of the giants of 
the “Golden Age” of the Russian literature.

A MAY NIGHT, 
OR THE DROWNED MAIDEN

From the miscellaneous collection of novels 
“Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”

I. GANNA

Songs were echoing in the village street. It was 
just the time when the young men and girls, tired 
with the work and cares of the day, were in the habit 
of assembling for the dance. In the mild evening 
light, cheerful songs blended with mild melodies. 

THE MANTLE AND OTHER STORIES

10

A mysterious twilight obscured the blue sky and 
made everything seem indistinct and distant. It was 
growing dark, but the songs were not hushed.
A young Cossack1, Levko by name, the son of 
the village headman, had stolen away from the 
singers, guitar in hand. With his embroidered cap 
set awry on his head, and his hand playing over 
the strings, he stepped a measure to the music. 
Th en he stopped at the door of a house half hidden 
by blossoming cherry-trees. Whose house was it? 
To whom did the door lead? Aft er a little while he 
played and sang:
“Th e night is nigh, the sun is down,
Come out to me, my love, my own!”
“No one is there; my bright-eyed beauty is fast 
asleep,” said the Cossack to himself as he fi nished 
the song and approached the window. “Gala, Gala, 
are you asleep, or won’t you come to me? Perhaps 
you are afraid someone will see us, or will not 
expose your delicate face to the cold! Fear nothing! 
Th e evening is warm, and there is no one near. And 
if anyone comes I will wrap you in my caft an2, fold 
you in my arms, and no one will see us. And if the 

1 Cossack — in the Ukraine in the 15th–18th centuries — 
a military estate (also semi-agricultural), and also a kind 
of a cavalry. (Herein aft er — Editor’s Note.)
2 Caft an — a warm coat with long sleeves.