"The Nose" () is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol.

Written between 1835 and 1836, while Gogol was living in St. Petersburg, "The Nose" tells the story of a government official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. The story was originally published in The Contemporary, a literary journal owned by Alexander Pushkin. This interpretation is consistent with Gogol's belief that the nose is the most important part of a person's anatomy. Major Kovalyov obsesses over his appearance, cleanliness, and rank, behavior that reflects the influence of a vision-oriented Western culture that emphasizes deodorization and hygiene. With the introduction of the Table of Ranks by Peter the Great, a wholly new portion of the population was able to move up socially if it worked hard enough. In a society that was obsessed with status, people had to always look their best and prioritize their outside appearance. When Major Kovalyov sees his own nose dressed in the uniform of a higher-ranking official than himself, he is momentarily embarrassed and unable to approach the nose. Even within the context of a ridiculous scenario, feelings of inferiority and jealousy still manage to creep into Major Kovalyov's mind.

Identity

The theme of identity is highlighted by how the nose is both easy and hard to identify at various points in the story. The barber realizes the owner of the nose very quickly when he sees it. However, the nose is able to slip away from Kovalyov by disguising itself as a doctor. This back and forth between the identity of the nose emphasizes how Gogol's Petersburg valued outward appearance much more than one's true identity. Major Kovalyov is a minor official who acts like he is much higher ranking than he actually is. He refers to women as prostitutes and asks them to come to his apartment. His main objectives in life are to climb the table of ranks and marry well, but without his nose, he can do neither.

The supernatural

The supernatural also comes into play in this story. The nose is able to transform its size depending on what is needed to further the plot. and mocks this reading; in particular, he mocks the widespread reading that assumes the content of the story to be meaningless.

Style

It was Ivan Yermakov who first noted that the story's title in Russian (, ) is the reverse of the Russian word for "dream" (, ). As the unreliable narrator himself notes, the story "contains much that is highly implausible", while an earlier version of the story ended with Kovalyov waking and realizing that the story was indeed a dream.

Major Kovalyov is a person with many inconsistencies and contradictions. Gogol uses this to highlight the "fractured identity of the main character". There is a significant imbalance in how Kovalyov views himself and how the outside world perceives him. Rather than focusing on his inner appearance, all of his energy and thought goes towards maintaining his outward appearance. "The collegiate assessor’s private and public faces seem almost unrelated." This kind of portrayal of an average citizen of Saint Petersburg reflects Gogol's position as a transplant to the city, who views the social hierarchy of the city from an outside perspective.

Symbolism

In Russia, the nose has been host to a variety of proverbs that range from "torn off" (if it is too curious) to "lifted up" (if you have a high opinion of yourself) to "hung up" (with obvious defeat and failure). By the 19th century, there was extensive literature in Russian prose dedicated to nose references. Critic V.V. Vinogradov believes the nose is not only a symbol of human personality but also a source of comedy and pathos in literature. Once he loses it, his entire demeanor towards the world changes. His nose acts as the source of his own pride and is what allows him to look down on everyone else. Since his identity is primarily defined by his outward appearance, the loss of his nose represents a loss of his identity, devastating him.

Inspiration and reception

The nose has been seen as a literary theme by Russian authors at least ever since the 1807 translation of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, in which the subject of noses is elaborately dealt with, especially in "Slawkenbergius's Tale". Noses, and even heads, that run about on their own, disappear and then return, or are baked in bread (as in Part I of Gogol's story) are to be found in Russian literature of the 1820s and 1830s. Out of these works, Gogol's story—part farce, part commentary—is the most famous.

In A History of Russian Literature, the critic D. S. Mirsky writes: "The Nose is a piece of sheer play, almost sheer nonsense. In it more than anywhere else Gogol displays his extraordinary magic power of making great comic art out of nothing."

Since its publication, "The Nose" has intrigued critics with its absurd story and social commentary. using pinscreen animation, was made by Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker in 1963.

  • Another animated short film, made in 1966, directed by Mordicai Gerstein, and narrated by Brother Theodore, shifts the story to Pittsburgh and changes the names (the barber is named Theodore Schneider and the nose-loser is named Nathan Nasspigel).
  • Andrei Amalrik's 1968 play "Nose! Nose? No-se!", like Gogol's short story, features a Major Kovalyov who wanders around St. Petersburg in search of his nose. The Kovalyov in Amalrik's play lives in a Marxist totalitarian society and is excessively concerned about his middle-class status.
  • Rolan Bykov directed a TV film adapted from the story in 1977.
  • Grammy Award-winning musical brothers Jason and Christophe Beck wrote and composed a musical titled The Nose of Polton Worth in 1990 based on this story, performed in Montreal and New Haven.
  • A play for radio based on the story was written by UK author Avanti Kumar and first produced and broadcast in Ireland by RTÉ in 1995.
  • In April 2002, the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Three Ivans, Two Aunts and an Overcoat broadcast an adaptation of the story starring Stephen Moore.
  • An album in Romanian based on the story was released by Ada Milea and Bogdan Burlăcianu in 2007.
  • A play based on the short story was written by Tom Swift and produced by the Performance Corporation in 2008.
  • The Fat Git Theatre Company performed their adaptation of the short story in 2011.
  • WMSE (91.7 FM in Milwaukee, WI) broadcast an adaptation by Wisconsin Hybrid Theater (Radio WHT) in 2011.
  • The Moscow Museum of Erotic Art put on an adaptation based on Vladimir Putin losing his genitalia to coincide with the 2012 presidential election.
  • In January 2020, Andrei Khrzhanovsky released the official adaptation of the short story as a stop-motion animated film, The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks.

Notes

References

  • The Nose, English translation, from Project Gutenberg
  • Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides: The Nose
  • Monument to Major Kovalyov's Nose