The Nose

Rating:
Summary: Need to Blow Your Nose?
Review: 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.