Overcoat

Five tragicomic tales from the visionary writer heralded by Vladimir Nabokov as “the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced”
 
A midlevel bureaucrat in the czar’s administration, Poprishchin is hurrying to work when he sees a woman step out of a carriage. Her beauty astounds him, and as she passes by, he hears something impossible: Her dog opens its mouth, and begins to speak. It is Poprishc...