14. The basilisk is a legendary monster, hatched by a toad from a cock's egg, whose look is said to kill.
15. The reference is to the poem 'The Demon' (1824), by Alexander Pushkin (see note 7 to 'Nevsky Prospect').
16. The words 'immersed in their zephyrs and cupids' are paraphrased from a line about a ruined landowner and lover of ballet in Griboedov's Woe from Wit (see note 9 to 'Nevsky Prospect'); the name of Gaius Maecenas (c. 70-8 B.C.), Roman statesman and important patron of literature, has become proverbial.
17. A shopping place that still exists in Petersburg.
18. A special design of oil lamp with a double draft and a reservoir higher than the wick, named for its French inventor.
19. See note 4 to 'The Night Before Christmas.'
20. The Senate in Petersburg acted as a civil court as well as a legislative body.
21. The noble and virtuous hero of The History of Sir Charles Grandison (I753-54). by Samuel Richardson (1689 -1761).
The Overcoat
1. See note 20 to 'The Portrait.'
2. That is, the church calendar, which lists saints' days and feast days, among other things; a child would be named for the saint (or one of the saints) on whose day it was born.
3. The famous equestrian statue of Peter the Great on the Senate square in Petersburg, by French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-91).
4. That is, one whose neglect of Orthodox feast days made her comparable to an unbeliever and even a sober Lutheran.
Table of Contents
THE COLLECTED TALES OF NIKOLAI GOGOL
RICHARD PEVEAR
LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY
PREFACE
TRANSLATORS' NOTE
Chancellor
II
III
VI
VII
IX
XI
XIII
I
II
III
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
PETERSBURG TALES
II
III
PART II
NOTES
3. See note 7 to 'Old World Landowners.'
PETERSBURG TALES
1. See note 7 to 'Nevsky Prospect.'
