This study reads Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" through the lens of Russian Formalism. The study argues that the story's literary power lies not in its social message or moral content but in its formal devices and techniques. While many critics read the story as a sympathetic portrait of the "little man" or a critique of society, this reading shows how Gogol's use of defamiliarization (making the familiar strange), skaz narrative technique (oral storytelling style), and the manipulation of story and plot creates a work that is fundamentally about language and perception itself. The study draws on the formalist analyses of Viktor Shklovsky, Boris Eikhenbaum, and Yury Tynyanov. It demonstrates that "The Overcoat" is made remarkable not by what it says but by how it says it. The study concludes that Gogol's story exemplifies the formalist principle that literary art is a dynamic interplay of devices that defamiliarize the world and renew our perception.
- Quote paper
- Nirmal Gurung (Author), 2026, Art as Technique. A Russian Formalist Reading of Gogol's "The Overcoat", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1743385
