Classics and the Western Canon discussion

By way of a consolation prize for Nikolai Gogol and his fans, I am delighted to offer "The Nose" as our interim read. This is a comical and absurd story that for some reason works. I'm not sure why it works as a story, but I think it does. (And if it doesn't work for you, I can certainly understand that perspective too.)

In any case, I hope you'll give it a shot. This one is too weird to miss.

https://www.gla.ac.uk/0t4/crcees/file...

Audio version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOlbL...

Thomas wrote: "This is a comical and absurd story that for some reason works. I'm not sure why it works as a story, but I think it does. (And if it doesn't work for you, I can certainly understand that perspective too.)."

It worked for me! I'm not sure what that says about my sense of humor, but I was smiling and chuckling all the way through. I thought the story was strange, weird, absurd, and absolutely hilarious. I love the humor, the sarcasm, the satire. The tone and gentle sarcasm reminds me a lot of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita--a weird, strange, absurd, and thoroughly wonderful novel.

If you're in the mood for an absurd but delightful short story, I encourage you to read "The Nose." It doesn't get much funnier or stranger than this.

What a hilarious story, I've also seen several funny adaptations.There is even a theatrical adaptation where Kovalyov is replaced with the former russian prime minister (now russian president by the way), but instead his nose he's loosing his ... genitalia.

I just like anything absurd, so this is great. I'm also really tired right now because it's daylight by 5am and I wake up and sometimes can't get back to sleep, so I'm happy to read something light.

Emil wrote: "What a hilarious story, I've also seen several funny adaptations.There is even a theatrical adaptation where Kovalyov is replaced with the former russian prime minister (now russian president by th..."

Among the adaptations is the Shostakovich opera, which he wrote when he was 20 years old. That's almost as ridiculous as the story itself.

For adventurous ears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muxgj...

Since this group recently read Tristram Shandy it's interesting to note that that work, which was translated into Russian in 1807, was probably an influence on Gogol's story. Sterne deals rather elaborately with the subject of noses, particularly in "Slawkenburgius's Tale" in Book IV.
It's also worth pointing out that the title of the story in Russian, when read backwards, is the Russian word for 'dream'.

Thomas wrote: "For adventurous ears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muxgj...

..."

That's perfect for a stormy saturday evening, thanks.
I'll grab some sunflower seeds first - east european alternative to popcorn.

This story is quite a romp, so funny and absurd! But as with the last Gogol story we read, The Night Before Christmas, there are layers upon layers. I don’t claim to have found them all, but this is what I have teased out:

The story is structured very much like a Russian fairy tale. The Night Before Christmas had that too, but at the time I didn’t recognize it. In this particular case we have the following sequence:

1) Mischief that upsets the status quo
2) The protagonist goes through various trials
3) The protagonist goes through a time of isolation or a dark night of the soul
4) Resolution

What is interesting to note according to author Nicholas Kotar, there will always be things happening in a Russian fairy tale that are out of the blue and are never explained, such as how the nose got into the bread. In fairy tales this is done out of brevity because they are meant to be short. Here with Gogol, he uses this device to create delightful absurdity.

The story starts with this sentence: On March 25th there took place… What is so important about March 25th? In the Gregorian liturgical calendar that is one of the major feasts of the Church (East and West), that of the Annunciation. In the Gospel of Luke the Angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary and asks her permission to become the mother of Jesus. This day is also attributed to the sixth day in Genesis when God created man. There is an obvious connection here, and with the Annunciation salvation is granted to humankind with the coming birth of Jesus Christ.
It is on this morning Kovalyov wakes up without a nose.

I read the story in German, and in the very next sentence the street that the barber lives on, Voznesensky Avenue, is translated in the German as Ascension Avenue.

And now Gogol has some fun: In the Julian liturgical calendar, which is used by some Orthodox Churches, the Annunciation is celebrated on 7 April, the day Kovalyov has his nose restored.

Kovalyov’s trials center around his pride and his attachment to worldly concerns, such as honor, wealth, status (power), and pleasure. He doesn’t get very far pursuing the nose, and when it is delivered to him, the nose refuses to attach. His newspaper ad gets rejected and he is ridiculed by being offered snuff tobacco. He can’t attend social events without a nose, losing a limb would have been preferred! No amount of coaxing will persuade the doctor to attach the nose. His entire life gets pulled out from under him.

Toward the end of chapter II Kovalyov goes through a time of dejection. ”How then, how on earth could this have happened? The devil alone can make it out” He is still a self-absorbed man and he yields to his fate because he has no choice. At the beginning of chapter III his nose is miraculously restored, an act of grace, one might say, but we don’t see much improvement in him. He is grateful to be restored to society, but one wonders if he won’t forget the episode soon enough and go back as he was before.

“[Gogol’s] big sharp nose was of such length and mobility,” writes Vladimir Nabokov, “that in the days of his youth he had been able (being something of an amateur contortionist) to bring its tip and his underlip in ghoulish contact; this nose was his keenest and most essential outer part.”

Kerstin wrote: "This story is quite a romp, so funny and absurd! But as with the last Gogol story we read, The Night Before Christmas, there are layers upon layers. I don’t claim to have found them..."

There is often a "universal truth" at the heart of a fairy tale. Is there any such thing here? It doesn't seem like Kovalyov learns anything, and when his nose is miraculously restored he goes back to being exactly the same vain man he was before. For me, this flouting of the convention is part of what makes the story funny. The narrator details a whole host of impossible events, but then he'll stop short and say, "but the rest remains shrouded in mystery..." only to pick up with the next impossibility. It's almost like a parody of bad writing, except the result is brilliant.

Thomas wrote: "There is often a "universal truth" at the heart of a fairy tale. Is there any such thing here? It doesn't seem like Kovalyov learns anything, and when his nose is miraculously restored he goes back to being exactly the same vain man he was before.

You know, I've been gnawing on the very thing and not coming up with anything satisfying that would do the story justice. And I agree, what makes the story so funny is the very idea that Kovalyov is not changed in the slightest by the experience of having lost his nose for a time.

It would be interesting to compare another fantastic short story called the Nose written by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (the novelist famous for the Rashomon). It's about a monk who is very self-conscious and vain like Kovalyov but his problem is that his nose is too big instead of missing.

I think the funny part about him meeting his nose again in the cathedral is that he is rather unsure of how to approach a nose with a higher social standing than he is. It's as if he lost his serf serving him and came back as his superior. His belittling attitude towards poor women who doesn't seem to need a nose (like he does) is set in parallel with how he constantly bows down to authorities with higher positions that rejects him. Although he is very proud of himself, his position is something of a minor status among government officials and he is very aware of that. (He likes to call himself Major and he won't marry anyone without money. His nose is essential in his social climbing and so represents not only his pride but his tool of ascension) I've looked the word Voznesensky and it DOES mean ascension. I know that ascension means something religious but I wonder if it had any connotations of the social hierarchy? In my kindle version the place where the barber dwells is called Vozkresensky Prospekt and Kovalyev remarks that "a peddler of oranges on the Vozkresensky Bridge could sit there noseless well enough" Vozkresensky means 'resurrection' and the date occurring around Easter seems to have some significance. The 'nose' genuflecting in the cathedral in piety seems to have no religious effect on Kovalyev and his restoration of his nose seems to have no redeeming effect either.
The only difference I can tell by the 'resurrection' of his nose seems to be on the poor barber who now takes care not to touch the nose when he shaves.

I also find it funny that by making excuses to not advertise or perform the recovery surgery, the press and the doctor are making their motives and practices even more ridiculous and shameful.

I also noticed how the three chapters can be regarded as the ascension, incarnation (the incarnation of the nose in human form?) and resurrection (how the nose returns). The three chapters also begin with the character's awakening and then ends with a mist or a fog and how absolutely nothing is known of what happened subsequently or how to make of it.. However we ARE informed of what happens subsequently right in the next chapter and the whole narration about the fog and the mist is absurd as well. This leads us to question the veracity of the ending of the whole story where the narrator says that 'there really is something in all this' incongruities and that such things really happen in this world. What can we then make of how religious stories and ideological conclusions and social systems are told off as being 'real' despite all the incongruities?

Borum wrote: "I think the funny part about him meeting his nose again in the cathedral is that he is rather unsure of how to approach a nose with a higher social standing than he is. It's as if he lost his serf serving him and came back as his superior. ..."

That's a great observation!

I've looked the word Voznesensky and it DOES mean ascension. I know that ascension means something religious but I wonder if it had any connotations of the social hierarchy?

I would say yes in the English language. The word is used all the time to mean upward movement.

In German there are several options, and only one, "Himmelfahrt", literally meaning "heaven voyage" has religious meaning. The translator must have chosen the religious term deliberately. If Gogol intended a double-meaning with social hierarchy, the translation does not immediately reveal it.

There is so much in this short story that is hilarious. For me, much of the humor lies in Kovalyov’s attempts to treat a preposterous situation seriously. He clutches at the tools at his disposal—the newspaper, the doctor, the police, etc. to help him retrieve his missing nose. All the while he is worried about his appearance and how he can no longer impress the ladies without a nose.

Gogol’s humor is tongue-in-cheek. He holds Kovalyov up for ridicule not because he tries to put an ad in the newspaper for his missing nose but because of the embarrassment he should feel for losing his nose, i.e. the embarrassment for being “demoted.”

Gogol also seems to be making a point at the end when he asks how any self-respecting author can write such a strange story, especially since there is “absolutely no benefit in it to the fatherland.” I think here he ridicules a society which insists all artistic endeavors must be edifying.

I see Gogol as laughing at human foibles, at how ridiculous our behavior can be sometimes. I said in an earlier post the story reminds me of The Master and Margarita. But I also similarities with the satire in Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World although Gogol’s satire isn’t as scathing as Swift’s. His tone is far gentler. And then, of course, there is poor old Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into some sort of giant beetle and tries to make sense of it all. I laugh so hard when I read The Metamorphosis that my tears come streaming down.

You're right Tamara, there would be no Bulgakov without Gogol. Bulgakov first read Dead Souls and The Nose in his early childhood, and he often referred to Gogol as "his teacher". He also wrote a theatrical adaptation of Dead Souls and a short story where Gogol's characters were teleported into Soviet Russia.

Emil wrote: "You're right Tamara, there would be no Bulgakov without Gogol. Bulgakov first read Dead Souls and The Nose in his early childhood, and he often referred to Gogol as "his teacher". He also wrote a t..."

I didn't know that. Now that you have shared this, I see that it makes complete sense because Gogol's influence on Bulgakov is definitely there.

I get such a kick out of it when we make connections and/or see similarities between works and/or their authors. Thank you for sharing this interesting tidbit of information.

Kerstin wrote: "Thomas wrote: "There is often a "universal truth" at the heart of a fairy tale. Is there any such thing here? It doesn't seem like Kovalyov learns anything, and when his nose is miraculously restor..."

Perhaps the universal truth contained in the story is that people don't change.

Donnally wrote: "Perhaps the universal truth contained in the story is that people don't change."

Ah, yes.
One is always in danger of overthinking things, especially we Germans ;-)