The Very Important Person fails to help Akaky Akakievich recover the title item in another of his stories, leading to Akaky freezing to death.
In one of this man's stories, a gray cat escapes and becomes feral, causing Pulkheria to fall into a depression and die, which then causes Afanasy to break down and die as well. One work by this author is split into a narrative about Lieutenant Pigorov and a story in which a dark-haired woman turns out to be a prostitute, disappointing the romantic painter Piskaryov. The nearly-identical potbellied landowners Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky appear in a work by this author of (*) "Old World Landowners"; that works ends with a scene in which a letter arrives from the gambler Khlestakov, revealing that he was not the title bureaucrat. The Very Important Person fails to help Akaky Akakievich recover the title item in another of his stories, leading to Akaky freezing to death. For 10 points, identify this Ukrainian author of "Nevsky Prospekt", The Inspector General, and "The Overcoat".
In one of this man's stories, a gray cat escapes and becomes feral, causing Pulkheria to fall into a depression and die, which then causes Afanasy to break down and die as well.
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol