The Nose (Gogol short story)

The story is divided into three parts: Part one On 25 March, the barber Ivan Yakovlevich notices that his wife has made bread. During breakfast, he cuts a loaf in half and finds a nose in it. With horror, he recognizes this nose as that of one of his regular customers, Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov (known as "Major Kovalyov"). Ivan's wife demands that he remove the nose from her home, so he wraps it up in cloth and attempts to throw it off a bridge into the Neva River. However, he is caught by a police officer, who resists Ivan's attempts to bribe him. Part two Major Kovalyov awakens to discover that his nose is missing. He grabs a mirror to see his face, finding only a smooth, flat patch of skin where his nose had been. He leaves home to report the incident to the chief of police. On his way, he sees his nose pretending to be human, dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking official. He chases it, but it refuses to return to his face. When Kovalyov becomes distracted by a pretty girl, the nose escapes. Kovalyov attempts to contact the chief of police, who is not available. He next visits the newspaper office to place an advertisement about the loss of his nose, where he is refused. He then speaks to a police inspector, who refuses to help. Finally, he returns to his flat, where the police officer who caught Ivan returns the nose (which was apprehended at a coach station, trying to flee the city). Kovalyov's joy is cut short when he finds that he is unable to reattach the nose, even with the help of a doctor. The next day, Kovalyov writes a letter to Madame Alexandra Grigorievna Podtochina, a woman who wants him to marry her daughter, and accuses her of stealing his nose; he believes that she has placed a curse on him for his fickleness towards her daughter. He writes to ask her to undo the spell, but she is confused by his letter and merely reiterates her wish to have him marry her daughter. Her reply convinces him that she is innocent. In the city, rumours of the nose's activities have spread, and crowds gather in search of it. Part three On 7 April, Kovalyov wakes up with his nose reattached. He is carefully shaved by the barber and returns to his old habits of shopping and flirting with girls. ==Themes==

Olfactory perception Some critics analyze the story literally instead of searching for symbolic significance. A literal interpretation suggests that Gogol's story is about the importance of olfactory perception, which is obscured in Western society by a focus on vision and appearance. 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. The absurdity creates a certain distance between the author and the reader, which provides an opportunity for readers to enjoy the story's comedic aspects, but closer analysis allows readers to see that it is a critique of their everyday lives. == Saint Petersburg landmarks ==

As a Petersburg tale, "The Nose" has many references to the city of Saint Petersburg, where the action of the story takes place. • Voznesensky Avenue: Ivan, the barber, lives on this street. • Isaakievsky Bridge: Ivan throws the nose into the river Neva from this bridge. • Sadovaya Street: Major Kovalyov lives on this street. • Nevsky Prospect: Major Kovalyov takes daily walks down this street. • Tavrichevsky Gardens: A rumor arises that the nose took to walking in these gardens. • Gostiny Dvor: Major Kovalyov stops here, happily, after his nose returns to his face. ==Adaptations==

• Dmitri Shostakovich's opera The Nose, first performed in 1930, is based on this story. • A short film based on the story, 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 ==