As an example of surrealism in written form, the short story The NosebyNikolai Gogol holds its own more than 180 years after it was published in the mid-1830s. In addition to its absurd storyline, that of a nose that undertakes a series of adventures independently of its owner, it is also very funny.
Part of the humour is embedded in Gogol’s running commentary on the social obsession with rank and status held by the residents of the Russian city of St Petersburg where the story is set. The main character Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov, who although a civil servant of middling rank has decided to refer to himself as ‘Major’ due to the title’s implied superiority, wakes up one morning to find that his nose has disappeared, leaving a blank patch of skin in its place.
Kovalyov eventually locates his nose living a life of its own as a separate person-size but nose-looking individual, and much to his horror and dismay finds that it now holds a position superior to his own. The way in which this situation leaves him at a complete loss is based on the reality of the rivalry and jostling for position within the bureaucracy, and it is this that carries the reader along with the less than believable story.
The story ends with the nose located, it having been on the point of absconding to live a permanently independent life of its own, and delivered to Kovalyov by the policeman who apprehended it. It is once more nose-sized, and after a series of difficulties during which Kovalyov attempts to reattach it to its rightful position, all is resolved.
Taking the story on a more serious level, various theories of what the nose represents have been proposed. The obsession with appearance is one theory, demonstrating what may happen in the absence of the most prominent feature of a person’s face and potentially the representative of that person’s status.
Pointing to Kovalyov’s prowess with women, another popular theory is the likelihood of the nose being a phallic symbol, also possibly due to all civil servants being at that time male. With the loss of the nose that holds its own power, the revised status of its owner is emphasised when it goes missing.
Despite a complete lack of explanation on the part of the author as to why and how the nose removed itself, The Nose remains a funny and enjoyable read on its own terms.
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