Ever since I acknowledged the title of the piece I have been curious about the contents of Gogol’s short story “The Nose”. I mean, doesn’t it make you wander what a short story named after a body part is about?
After reading to the point where the barber finds a nose in his bread I was ready to receive a detective story. After all, finding body parts in strange places seems like a very well liked beginning for many detective TV series these days. I was quite excited at the thought since I am a great fan for such shows.
As you all know by now, my wish for a detective story was not fulfilled by Gogol. Yet, the disappointment was soon replaced by a sense of confusion. After finishing the story I did not know what I could take out of it. On the other hand I keep on thinking what the story could be like if it was remade into a stage play. Probably due to me recent visit to the play “Around the World in 80 Days”, I think “The Nose” could be a really nice story for a comedy. I mean, imagine Major Kovalev screaming “MY NOSE!!!” at the top of his voice, when Kovalev is holding a handkerchief in front of his face as he argues with the advertisement clerk in a muffled voice, or when Major Kovalev is having a conversation with his own nose in a suit. All of these could be great materials for a comedy, and the only things the story needs are some exaggerated motions and tones of voices.
Thankfully, we had a class explanation of the deeper meanings into the story, so I was able to grasp the true message behind what appears to be a silly story. “The Nose” demonstrates to us the characteristic of social classes in Russia at the time. Although finally grasping its meanings in the end, I still have a hard time developing a love for strange and complicated stories such as this one.
I completely agree with you in that I figured the story to be a detective story! Even though my initial guess went amiss, I was heavily influenced by the fact that Ivan Jakovlevitch and his wife were absolutely clueless about whom the nose belonged to. I also found it interesting how you tried to imagine the short story as a comedy play, with exaggerated actions. It can definitely work, as demonstrated by the libretto of the story. I wonder how the Major’s “pancake face” and the talking nose were accomplished by the production of the opera.