The Nose

"The Nose" (Russian: Нос, romanized: Nos) is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol. Written between 1835 and 1836, while Gogol was living in St. Petersburg, "The Nose" tells the story of a government official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. The story was originally published in The Contemporary, a literary journal owned by Alexander Pushkin. The use of a nose as the main source of conflict could have been due to Gogol's own experience with an oddly shaped nose, which was often the subject of self-deprecating jokes in letters. The use of iconic landmarks in the story, as well as its sheer absurdity, has made "The Nose" an important part of St. Petersburg's literary tradition. The story centers on the strange experiences of Collegiate Assessor ("Major") Kovalyov, who wakes up one morning without his nose. He later finds out that the nose has assumed a life of its own and even surpassed him in rank by attaining the title of State Councillor. The short story satirizes the scramble for official titles that plagued Russia after Peter the Great introduced the Table of Ranks. By allowing commoners to gain hereditary nobility through service to the state, a formerly immobile population was given the chance to break into the upper classes. This reform, however, also spawned the large bureaucratic complex inhabited by many of Gogol's characters.