The Overcoat is my introduction to Gogol and I’m very excited to read his other works. I have to admit that there is a strong comparison to be made between this story and the works of Kafka. The oppressive office, the dirty streets, the bewildering bureaucracy, and rigid and obtuse authority figures are something Kafka lovers can immediately identify with. Yet unlike Kafka, there is more humanity here. Kafka’s characters were never what I would call ‘deep’. In fact, most of them were barely human (The Metamorphosis, The Hunger Artist, The Burrow). Gogol is more interested in the pathos whereas Kafka saw mostly absurdity.