The Nose

The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. Translated by Claud Field. Published by MobileReference (mobi). A man named Kovalyov wakes up that morning to discover his nose is missing, in its place nothing but smooth skin. "The Nose" spends many pages following Kovalyov through futile attempts to recover his nose. Like the narrator, Kovalyov is often distracted from his mission by random thoughts and events. Gogol purposely mangles form and content, breaking all conventions of traditional writing.

Gogol's The Nose took its place in my list as I finished Amos Oz's The Story Begins - Essays on Literature where Oz mentions some points of logic distortions in The Nose in quite an interest-growing manner. It wasn't, however, until when I came across the product details here listing it as for ages 4-8 that the story itself became a question mark to be read and answered immediately... Although in the story Kovaliov's nose is touring around in St. Petersburg which alone is quite satisfactory as an absurdity, the author mainly underlines why the nose arises stress, anger, horror, curiosity and astonishment in various characters, and how they think, judge and react in return. I don't think ages 4-8 should nonetheless be classified as the very specific time in life that Gogol could be valued enough.

Best known for the mainstream Taras Bulba, The Inspector General, and Dead Souls, the Ukrainian Gogol wrote some excellent early absurdist stories including "The Nose," "The Carriage", and the seminal "Diary of a Madman". Another well-known story, "The Overcoat", considered one of Gogol's best works, also has several distinctively absurdist characteristics, including: the antinomy of outward appearance and inner reality, the related issue of questioning socially established values, and a fantastic ending. "The Nose" by Nikolai Gogol is more a reflection of the technique of story telling than any attempt to create a narrative. Indeed, Gogol purposely mangles form and content, breaking all conventions of traditional writing. The plot and more importantly, the way he presents it is a nonsensical jumble full of gaps, contradictions, interruptions and extraneous information. The piece is only unified through its attempt to betray the reader's assumptions of how a story should be told. Gogol opens strongly, establishing the normal foundation for a coherent plot to develop. "On 25 March a most extraordinary occurrence took place in St. Petersburg." (Gogol) A man named Kovalyov wakes up that morning to discover his nose is missing, in its place nothing but smooth skin. "The Nose" spends many pages following Kovalyov through futile attempts to recover his nose. Like the narrator, Kovalyov is often distracted from his mission by random thoughts and events.