Akaki Akakievich, a solitary, unworldly government clerk, is often mocked by his colleagues - not least on account of his pathetically threadbare overcoat, no longer a match for the St Petersburg climate. Economising to the point of austerity, Akaki has a new overcoat made, thus transforming his life. Then, one dark night, the unthinkable happens ... By turns wry, sad, tender and satirical, Gogol's greatest short work provided the template for an entirely new way of storytelling in the modern age.