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| Statue of Nikolai Gogol by Andreyev |
He was a man
of his time, and a man somehow
out of time. His life (1809-1852) was nearly coeval with that of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), and in some ways they might seem to have much in common: best known for their short stories, which capture something of the essential horror and absurdity of life; both died miserably, and saw their reputations buffetted before becoming the "classic" authors they're now regarded as. But there, in a way, the similarities end: Poe was a true Romantic, more than half in love with easeful death, but also capable of exquisite framings of life and love. Ravens, graveayards, and premature burials were Poe's native ground. Gogol, in contrast, was a realist, alebeit one whose acute awareness of the absurdity of the real often led him into a sort of
surrealism; his native haunt was the infamous Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburgh, his native tribe the faceless bureaucrats in the employ of the Russian government, who flowed along its pavements like the dead souls flowing through the gates of Hell in Dante's
Inferno. They did have one other odd thing in common: a wicked sense of humor.
"The Overcoat" is perhaps the greatest encapsulation of the way in which a single object of clothing can take on an almost talismanic power, conveying identity itself, and -- when lost -- a fate far worse than death. But it's with "The Nose," an absurdist meditation on the nature of rank, power, and identity that Gogol's social satire reached its peak. Foreshadowing later tales of severed identity, such as Dostoyevsky's
The Double, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shadow," and Robert Louis Stevenson's
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it imagines the consequences of a severed nose, a nose that refuses to be re-arratched, and soon acquires a mysterious life of its own.
And it's had a pretty good afterlife, as well. In 1963, using
pinscreen animation -- a fantastical and difficult method that produces haunting monochromatic images -- Alexandra Alexeieff and Claire Parker produced what I feel is the best direct
adaptation of the story (you'll recognize one of the instruments in the soundtrack -- it's a
biwa!) It's also been the subject of several plays and an opera, not to mention the sequence in Woody Allen's
Sleeper, where he
steals the dictator's nose and leads his guards on a merry chase. And you can imagine how I felt when, as I was cleaning out the basement of my house, I felt when I came upon a small wooden box, opened it, and saw
this!
The Nose was an interesting tale that focuses on identity. The protagonist wakes up without a nose, and begins on a quest to try and find it. What's interesting is that the main person in the story seems to find himself not as much a person without his nose --- and even less so when he finds out what has happened with his nose. There is, however, a secondary story that plays in part here.
ReplyDeleteThe main character is clearly a flirt, and this thwarts his efforts to capture his nose. It plays to the attributes of the protagonist, and how the lack of a nose on his face makes him undesirable.
Overall, I find the story to truly be about identity, or loss of identity. This can correlate to life in ways that don't directly relate to one losing their nose. Things such as a job change, loss of a significant other, or even moving, can all be ways that we "lose our nose" and change our self-image and self-esteem.
While being alone and having no friends is typically something most people would not enjoy, Akaky would say otherwise. He seems to be content when he is alone as he does not have problems to deal with. To his coworkers, Akaky is barely seen as human, “No respect was shown him in the department. The janitor not only did not rise from his seat when he passed, but never even glanced at him, as if only a fly had flown through the reception-room”. However, when he gets a new overcoat, he becomes popular and has new friends. However, it is questionable to refer to them as “friends” because they are not very genuine. These friends seem to only be interested in Akaky’s belongings. “All this—the noise, talk, and throng of people—was rather wonderful to Akaky Akakievich. He simply did not know where he stood, or where to put his hands, his feet, and his whole body”. When he is finally allowed to be a part of the party, he is not fully integrated as he is socially awkward. Through the story, Gogol reminds us that sometimes being alone is better than having fake friends.
ReplyDeleteIn this film you can relate to the old saying that first impressions are everything, that without his nose, the main character was afraid to face the public. When he regained his nose, you can see the expression in is face of happiness and joy. With his nose intact, he reclaimed his self-esteem and immediately started dancing and then off he went for some self-care and maintenance.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that the main character in this film, is no different than say a child with a cleft palate, a burn victim or any other individual who is unhappy with a body part. Each and every one of us have a flaw that we dislike on our bodies. Some of us work on it and others subject themselves to plastic surgery. I believe that some people do whatever it takes for them to look and characterize themselves externally as close to how they see themselves internally.
The detail in this 1963 film are astounding. You can clearly see and kind of feel the emotions that the main character is articulating every time he looks in the mirror. even though this film did not have any sound effect other than the Biwa, you knew what exactly how the main character was feeling. Whether it was horror, devastation, sadness or happiness with this pin screen animation, you can undoubtedly see what the character was experiencing. You were not left guessing or questioning the moves or emotions.
Nelly Perez
I have to agree with the above statements that this short story definitly was transpired around the idea of self identity and loss . Today many people put stigma on personal appearance. I felt the story as well as the film really plays and eye opener that self identity issues have been around long before social media and the media in general played such a large role. It was fascinating that even though their was no voice in the film we were still able to get such a sense that the main character felt lost , humiliated just by his disfiguration of not having his nose. It really makes you think about how many people feel this sensation of loss within themselves just for having defects similar to this.
ReplyDeleteI also felt the overcoat was related to self identity. The main character felt so humiliated by the appearance of his old coat that he made such large sacrifices so he could obtain and new one so the co workers would stop being judgmental. You can see when he finally gets his new coat how he felt like a new person and then when its stolen from him how devastated he became. I enjoyed these stories I was alittle unsure what to expect when I first began to read them but overall I thought they were a good read.
In the overcoat,I felt as though Akaky’s coworkers were bullies. They seemed to go out of their way to torture and bother Akaky. They never wanted to accept or include Akaky because he did not fit in with their standards. What I like about Akaky is that he did not care about fitting in with the joneses. Akaky did his own thing and he was content with being alone. One of the other things that stood out to me, is how Akakys demeanor changed when he was able to afford and obtain a new overcoat. That something so simple can change the way a person feels about themselves. It left me thinking and wondering that maybe it would be a good idea to look for or do the little things in life that makes us feel better. Even when you are having a bad. Life’s to short.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading "The Nose." I found it hysterically funny, the frustration and journey of the protagonist hilarious. I especially liked the scene when Kovaloff is trying to take out an advertisement for his lost nose; it seemed to sum up the story in many ways. Kovaloff, ego-forward and bragging about his affairs, clearly hell-bent on preserving his stature as a cassanova of sorts, all while interfacing with the newspaper official who could really care less about his predicament. It's like one long bad dream; like being in a dream where you aren't wearing any pants, and no one will stop to help you. I loved that the nose himself was one step up from the snottiness (pun intended) of Kovaloff; a satisfying ironic twist. Not knowing Gogol's other works, this story felt like he was really just having fun, making fun of the Statesman and official status' within his own corrupt society. There was a lot of detail of the time period, even a personal socio-political rant from the policeman who returned the nose to him. I liked getting an idea of what the real context of his writing was. I loved these lines from the end of the story:
ReplyDelete"But the most incomprehensible thing of all is, how authors can choose such subjects for their stories. That really surpasses my understanding. In the first place, no advantage results from it for the country; and in the second place, no harm results either." I found this hilarious.
I found ‘The Nose’ to be a very amusing and interesting tale. As Ivan was, I was surprised he found a human nose in his bread, which caught my interest in the story, As I continued to read, I found it funny that each attempt at ditching the nose went wrong. Ivan finally dumps the nose over the bridge and he is then confronted by an officer. It’s abrupt, cliffhanger ending leavings me wishing I knew what happened next. However, the future teacher in me finds that to be a great creative writing assignment; finish the story. The story then switches over to Kovaloff who wakes up without a nose. Like Ivan, he too goes on a journey. Kovaloff even attempts to take an add out in the paper. Due to is easy read and humor, I found this story to be my personal favorite.
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Erika M
I found the "Nose" to be quite entertaining and funny. The Major woke up and without his nose and was so concerned about how people would perceive him. The Nose is a prominent feature of the face of course but I feel that if my nose was to go missing I wouldn't be able to get over how such thing could happen, and how does a nose just develop the ability to walk around and speak. The Major truly felt that he was not the same without his nose suggesting that he might not actually know who he is himself, his true identity, who he is as a person not as his physical appearance. I enjoyed the story.
ReplyDeleteI concur with other commenters that identity emerges as a strong theme in this story. In Tsarist Russia during Gogol’s time, there was a very strong emphasis on identity and social class. The Table of Ranks that Peter the Great established was still in use, which allowed individuals to move up the social strata based on their service to the empire. The emphasis on social standing is exemplified both in Ivan’s need to find his nose in order to maintain his appearance and status, and in his embarrassment or self-consciousness when he encounters his nose and the nose outranks him. The absurdist imagery of a human-sized nose wearing a disguise adds levity to a classic tale of class mobility.
ReplyDeleteAnthony Maselli
Edward Cummins
ReplyDeleteI found the reading of “The overcoat” very intriguing. I felt as though it mirrored but darkly twisted, the story of the Good Samaritan, which is in the book of Luke in the Bible. In the overcoat, the character Akaky, was a poor man with a very tattered coat. This coat was beyond repair and needed to be replaced. Once he was able to save enough money his coat was stolen, leaving him open to the outdoor elements. As he tried to go to different officials but was turned away from all, the final official was so rude that Akaky walked home without a coat and died from a sickness. This reminds me of this old children’s bible story because a man was walking down the road and was jumped, and left naked and wounded in the road. Three people passed by and left him for dead without helping him, even though their title in the community was one of power and kindness. Finally, a person stopped and assisted the naked man. Although “The Overcoat” did not end the same way as “The Good Samaritan”, it had an interesting dark but humorous twist.
I thought that the story, “The Nose”, also by the same author as “The Overcoat”, was an interesting pairing in story choices. For instance, you take the story “The Overcoat” the man, Akaky, has nothing and is stripped of the one thing that he has of value and had also worked hard for. Then you take the story “The Nose”, where this Major in the military is stripped of a facial feature, in which is important to him. His personality, unlike Akaky whom is humble, hardworking but poor, the Major is a womanizer and spends money frequently. These stories and its happenings are similar, but character traits for each stories main characters are very uniquely different.
The Nose was such an oddly narrated story. It sort of seemed as though the narrator was recounting a story he had read but at the end of each section when everything fades out there were pages missing or something and he couldn't tell the reader anymore than what he could read himself because that was all he knew. It was like the author wasn't even in charge of his own story. Then, he ends it in a very similar fashion by hinting that even he doesn't really know whether or not one should believe such a strange and supernatural story. I enjoyed the story precisely because of how strange it was, but the way each section was concluded so vaguely was really off putting and bizarre.
ReplyDeleteThe Nose was a fun read! I enjoyed reading how the major woke up and noticing that he didn't have a nose on his face anymore. the major was mostly worried about how others would react to him, he too also was not sure on who he truly was anymore.
ReplyDeleteCaitlynne McSweeney
I felt The Nose and The Overcoat were both comical commentaries. The characters portrayed by Gogol are elaborately described according to their station in Czarist Russia. Their appearance, attire, position in the communities and work force give the reader a specific picture and attitude towards the main characters and the outcome of each story. SSteere
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