What does it mean to “lose your nose” or schizophrenia in Gogol’s style. Analysis of Gogol’s work “The Nose” How the nose appears in the story

December 25, 2014

The story "The Nose" is one of the most fun, original, fantastic and unexpected works of Nikolai Gogol. The author did not agree to publish this joke for a long time, but his friends persuaded him. The story was first published in the Sovremennik magazine in 1836, with a note by A.S. Pushkin. Since then, heated debates have not subsided around this work. The real and the fantastic in Gogol's story "The Nose" are combined in the most bizarre and unusual forms. Here the author reached the pinnacle of his satirical skill and painted a true picture of the morals of his time.

Brilliant grotesque

This is one of N.V.’s favorite literary devices. Gogol. But if in early works it was used to create an atmosphere of mystery and mystery in the narrative, then in a later period it turned into a way of satirically reflecting the surrounding reality. The story "The Nose" is a clear confirmation of this. The inexplicable and strange disappearance of the nose from Major Kovalev’s face and his incredible independent existence separately from his owner suggest the unnaturalness of the order in which a high status in society means much more than the person himself. In this state of affairs, any inanimate object can suddenly acquire significance and weight if it acquires the proper rank. This is the main problem of the story "The Nose".

Features of realistic grotesque

In the late work of N.V. Gogol is dominated by realistic grotesque. It is aimed at revealing the unnaturalness and absurdity of reality. Incredible things happen to the heroes of the work, but they help to reveal the typical features of the world around them, to reveal the dependence of people on generally accepted conventions and norms.

Gogol's contemporaries did not immediately appreciate the writer's satirical talent. Only V.G. Belinsky, who did a lot for a correct understanding of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s work, once noted that the “ugly grotesque” that he uses in his work contains “an abyss of poetry” and “an abyss of philosophy”, worthy of “Shakespeare’s brush” in its depth and authenticity.

“The Nose” begins with the fact that on March 25, an “extraordinarily strange incident” happened in St. Petersburg. Ivan Yakovlevich, a barber, discovers his nose in freshly baked bread in the morning. He throws him off the St. Isaac's Bridge into the river. The owner of the nose, the collegiate assessor, or major, Kovalev, waking up in the morning, does not find an important part of the body on his face. In search of the loss, he goes to the police. On the way he meets his own nose in the garb of a state councilor. Pursuing the fugitive, Kovalev follows him to the Kazan Cathedral. He tries to return his nose to its place, but he only prays with “the greatest zeal” and points out to the owner that there can be nothing in common between them: Kovalev serves in another department.

Distracted by an elegant lady, the major loses sight of the rebellious part of the body. After making several unsuccessful attempts to find the nose, the owner returns home. There they return what was lost to him. The police chief grabbed his nose while trying to escape using someone else's documents to Riga. Kovalev's joy does not last long. He cannot put the body part back in its original place. The summary of the story "The Nose" does not end there. How did the hero manage to get out of this situation? The doctor can't help the major. Meanwhile, curious rumors are creeping around the capital. Someone saw the nose on Nevsky Prospekt, someone - in the Tauride Garden. As a result, he himself returned to his original place on April 7, which brought considerable joy to the owner.

Theme of the work

So what is the point of such an incredible plot? The main theme of Gogol's story "The Nose" is the character's loss of a piece of his self. This probably happens under the influence of evil spirits. The organizing role in the plot is given to the motive of persecution, although Gogol does not indicate the specific embodiment of supernatural power. The mystery captivates readers literally from the first sentence of the work, it is constantly reminded of it, it reaches its climax... but there is no solution even in the finale. Covered in the darkness of the unknown is not only the mysterious separation of the nose from the body, but also how he could exist independently, and even in the status of a high-ranking official. Thus, the real and the fantastic in Gogol’s story “The Nose” are intertwined in the most unimaginable way.

Real plan

It is embodied in the work in the form of rumors, which the author constantly mentions. This is gossip that the nose regularly promenades along Nevsky Prospect and other crowded places; that he seemed to be looking into the store and so on. Why did Gogol need this form of communication? Maintaining an atmosphere of mystery, he satirically ridicules the authors of stupid rumors and naive belief in incredible miracles.

Characteristics of the main character

Why did Major Kovalev deserve such attention from supernatural forces? The answer lies in the content of the story "The Nose". The fact is that the main character of the work is a desperate careerist, ready to do anything for a promotion. He managed to receive the rank of collegiate assessor without an exam, thanks to his service in the Caucasus. Kovalev’s cherished goal is to marry profitably and become a high-ranking official. In the meantime, in order to give himself more weight and significance, he everywhere calls himself not a collegiate assessor, but a major, knowing about the superiority of military ranks over civilian ones. “He could forgive everything that was said about himself, but he did not forgive in any way if it related to rank or title,” the author writes about his hero.

So the evil spirits laughed at Kovalev, not only taking away an important part of his body (you can’t make a career without it!), but also endowing the latter with the rank of general, that is, giving it more weight than the owner himself. That's right, no need to turn up your nose! The real and the fantastic in Gogol's story "The Nose" makes us think about the question "what is more important - the personality or its status?" And the answer is disappointing...

Hints from a brilliant author

Gogol's story contains many satirical subtleties and transparent hints at the realities of his contemporary time. For example, in the first half of the 19th century, glasses were considered an anomaly, giving the appearance of an officer or official some inferiority. In order to wear this accessory, special permission was required. If the heroes of the work strictly followed the instructions and corresponded to the form, then the Nose in the Uniform acquired for them the importance of a significant person. But as soon as the police chief “logged out” of the system, broke the strictness of his uniform and put on glasses, he immediately noticed that in front of him was just a nose - a part of the body, useless without its owner. This is how the real and the fantastic intertwine in Gogol’s story “The Nose”. No wonder the author’s contemporaries were engrossed in this extraordinary work.

Many writers noted that “The Nose” is a magnificent example of fantasy, Gogol’s parody of various prejudices and people’s naive belief in the power of supernatural forces. Fantastic elements in the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich are ways of satirically displaying the vices of society, as well as affirming the realistic principle in life.

Brilliant grotesque

Features of realistic grotesque

Gogol's contemporaries did not immediately appreciate the writer's satirical talent. Only having done a lot for a correct understanding of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s work, he once noticed that the “ugly grotesque” that he uses in his work contains “an abyss of poetry” and “an abyss of philosophy”, worthy of “Shakespeare’s brush” in its depth and authenticity.

Distracted by an elegant lady, the major loses sight of the rebellious part of the body. After making several unsuccessful attempts to find the nose, the owner returns home. There they return what was lost to him. The police chief grabbed his nose while trying to escape using someone else's documents to Riga. Kovalev's joy does not last long. He cannot put the body part back in its original place. The summary of the story "The Nose" does not end there. How did the hero manage to get out of this situation? The doctor can't help the major. Meanwhile, curious rumors are creeping around the capital. Someone saw the nose on Nevsky Prospekt, someone saw it on Nevsky Prospect. As a result, he himself returned to his original place on April 7, which brought considerable joy to the owner.

Theme of the work

Real plan

Characteristics of the main character

So the evil spirits laughed at Kovalev, not only taking away an important part of his body (you can’t make a career without it!), but also endowing the latter with the rank of general, that is, giving it more weight than the owner himself. That's right, there is nothing Real and fantastic in Gogol's story "The Nose" makes you think about the question "what is more important - the personality or its status?" And the answer is disappointing...

Hints from a brilliant author

(literary research)

“They talked a lot about me, examining some of my aspects, but they did not define my main essence. Only Pushkin heard it. He always told me that no writer had ever had this gift of showing the vulgarity of life so clearly, of being able to outline the vulgarity of a vulgar person with such force, so that all the little things that escape the eye would flash large in everyone’s eyes. This is my main property..."
N.V. Gogol. Fragment from the "Author's Confession".
1.
Now, in our modern times, there is no definite opinion on the content of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s strange story “The Nose”. The phantasmagoric story remains a mystery in Russian classical literature. Indeed, what exactly did the author mean? For the most part, the reader recognizes a certain transcendence of the content of the narrative and is inclined to believe that the work is STRANGE.

There is a work in which the author quite seriously sees a certain Freudian meaning, subconscious motives and deals only with the characterization of the main character - Platon Kovalev. There is a work that reveals the intricate folk popular meaning of the story - stupid, they say, traditional... The school curriculum interprets the story as satirical and critical: they say, the state is a police state, in which all the characters wear masks, which even the author, N.V. Gogol tries on himself - the mask of a kind of simpleton in bewilderment... There is a work that does not solve the questions of the story, but poses them, and how: puts Kovalev’s nose on the same page - both laughter and sin (and may the author of this work not be offended by me) - with Jesus Christ!

However, in my opinion, anything could be included in the school curriculum, but not “The Nose”. This, I believe, is by no means a textbook work. I even dare to suggest that this is not a work at all, but an encryption of the work. The real work - the work that Gogol knew for sure - will never be published or recognized.
The only serious, in my opinion, literary research on a given topic was presented only by Professor Olga Georgievna Dilaktorskaya, whose work reflects all the everyday aspects of the story: why the date of the loss of the nose is March 25, and why Kovalev’s meeting with the nose takes place in the Kazan Cathedral, and not in some other temple, and many, many other questions of everyday, modern nature. This study is complete and detailed, but even in it the respected author left questions to which he did not find an answer. For example, “Both the strange sign of the barber, and the strangely discovered nose in the bread, which are in no way connected in the external plot action, correlate with each other...”, and “The meek barber, according to Praskovya Osipovna’s characterization, is a “beast”, “a swindler”, “ robber”, “drunkard”, a thunderstorm, according to the policeman - “thief” and criminal. In this context, the phrase on its sign “and the blood is opened” takes on another meaning. Despite all the evidence, the barber’s innocence in the story of the missing nose is called into question. At the same time, in the text of the story there are no hints as to how the barber could have participated in the misadventure with the major’s nose.

I have the courage to argue. There are such hints in the story. And the barber is a robber for a reason. He is indeed directly involved in all the events with the nose and Kovalev. The barber is truly a thief, truly a fraud. And its sign is not just like that. And Kovalev’s nose can be found precisely in baked bread and nowhere else. And all of Gogol’s contemporaries knew what they were talking about. Only then there were rules of decency in society. There were topics that were not discussed, about which only hints could be given. Topics like this one with “The Nose.”

I offer my version.
The phantasmagoric plot presented by the author hides another plot - real and understandable, for some reason hidden by the author - on this I agree with the respected Professor Dilaktorskaya. And there must be good reasons. For example, refusal to publish... Why not?... After all, Shevyrev and Pogodin “wrapped up” the publication of “The Nose” with the characteristic “dirty, vulgar and trivial.” Somewhere they saw this dirt and vulgarity, of which there is no trace in the text? But Pushkin published it with pleasure. And why would that be?
It is clear that the version is among many and is a so-so version. What if you can prove it?
In general, I see at least two reasons in favor of this version.

The first is the personality of the author. Gogol is the bearer of Ukrainian culture, national character and subtle humor. An ironic, intelligent, keenly observant person. These qualities may indicate remarkable talent and rare invention. After all, Chichikov is his hero, for example. Which was given to him by the same Pushkin. And to write about collecting dead souls - you have to guess that, right? And it’s unlikely that “The Nose” ranks low on this list... All of Gogol’s works are written in the style of observation, reporting, and the author does not hide his opinion anywhere. Well, how should “Nose” be different, one might ask?

The second reason is the story itself. By omitting the delusional content of the source, you can try to find the true voice of the author in all this. Hint. After all, if he really encrypted it, that means he left the “key” behind. This means that you can try to find this notorious “key” in the story, which will reveal the secret meaning of all this nonsense. A dirty, vulgar, trivial meaning that lay on the surface for some, and which amused Alexander Sergeevich so much, if we remember his “word from the publisher.” Well, more on that below.
In fact, there were several interesting places in the text that you can “catch on to,” so to speak.

First of all, the author’s final word, of course. I dare to give it in the necessary abbreviation in order to illuminate the main meaning, and anyone can read this part of the story in full according to their own interest:
“This is the story that happened... Now we just... see that there is a lot of implausibility in it... the supernatural separation of the nose and his appearance in different places in the form of a state councilor - how did Kovalev not realize that it is impossible to contact a newspaper expedition and announce the nose? But it’s indecent, awkward, bad! And again - how did the nose end up in the baked bread and how did Ivan Yakovlevich himself?.. no, I just don’t understand this! But what’s strangest, what’s most incomprehensible is how authors can take such stories. I admit, this is completely incomprehensible... Firstly, there is absolutely no benefit to the fatherland... and yet, with all this, although, of course, one can admit both one and the other, and the third... well, and where are there no inconsistencies?.. And nevertheless, as you think about it, there really is something in all this. Say what you will, such incidents are rare in the world, but they do happen.”

Why would the author end by asking the reader questions? It’s very similar to reinforcement questions for the material covered, isn’t it? If we assume - purely hypothetically - that answers to these questions still exist, then the author left them in the text. Where else? And having found these answers, you can see the true meaning of the story. Q.E.D.

Smart, ironic Nikolai Vasilyevich warns the reader that as the author he knows for sure that in the presented version the work will not be understood or appreciated: some will say that such a thing cannot exist in the world, others will assume first one thing, then another, then a third. He anticipates reproaches: “how can authors take such plots,” and with a sly smile, nevertheless, declares: that such things exist in the world. Rarely, but they do happen. So he knows what he's talking about. And it’s not about miracles at all, but about something else, hidden from view. It’s not noses that actually come to life and leave their owners, right? So, you definitely asked a riddle? So it's encryption? By all appearances, it turns out that way. Then - which one? How to sort out and decipher a bunch of absurdities and absurdities that happen to the main character throughout the entire story?

Before starting to analyze the work, I strongly advise the reader to refresh his memory of the original text. Because it’s a very tedious task - to give the direct text in quotation marks, to make a footnote to it at the bottom of the page, and, in general, it’s just useful to re-read the classics sometimes. Especially THIS one.
One thing is certain: a hero. The main character is real. It remains to find a way in which one plot - real and mysterious, the author hid in another - awkward and illogical.

In fact, there are not so many ways. The linguistic cipher is immediately discarded - the work is complete and coherent.
An allegory can be assumed, but then why so many strange and unnecessary details: from the shaggy horse like a lapdog on which Kovalev races on a newspaper expedition - to a detailed description of the costumes of the characters participating in the story. Although there is an allegory here and there - for example, a passing story about a stealing treasurer in the form of a black poodle.
But there really are a lot of details.
Kovalev himself is described down to the rings and signets on his fingers, which he wears with pleasure (although why would the reader know this?), and for some reason the barber Ivan Yakovlevich’s foul-smelling hands are emphasized twice (although his hands do not participate in the events). In a word, the theatrical principle “if a gun hangs on the wall, then it will definitely fire” does not work at all in this case. More. Events are conveyed generally, and details are conveyed in detail. For some reason, before Kovalev returns his nose, the bright light of a candle, breaking through the door cracks in a dark room, is accentuated. Well, why all these details if their action does not develop in the story? They seem tedious and unnecessary, distracting from the course of events. There can be two explanations for this unfortunate fact.

This means there is a second option. What if it is precisely these details that carry the main meaning of what is happening? What if Nikolai Vasilyevich hid the true meaning of the story in them? That is, he did all this on purpose. Maybe if you unravel the meaning implied by the author in the details, then the solution will appear right away? What if these details are some kind of symbols that mean something?

Or maybe it’s true, this is all a dream... After all, what are the endings of each action: “but here again everything that happens is hidden in the fog, and what happened next is absolutely unknown” Maybe... But there is a “But”. Would a writer as strict with his work as Gogol, who rewrote “Dead Souls” several times and burned the second volume, considering it unworthy of publication, get dirty by retelling some dream when he considered his “Dikanka” to be frankly weak?
Hardly. Even from the point of view of the average person, there is no point in such an undertaking, and its literary interest is dubious. In addition, shortly before the release of “The Nose,” Pushkin had already “plowed” the field of “dreams and dreams” by releasing “The Undertaker,” in which the main character simply dreamed of all the terrible events. That’s why, by the way, Gogol reworked the ending of “The Nose” - so as not to repeat himself, so to speak, in ideas. After all, Gogol is a strong writer and tenacious in writing out human characters. And if he took such a plot, then it was not without reason. So, there is a hitch.
What if the problem lies in some plot twist?
When, for example, at the everyday level, dream events can be deciphered into life events, then why can’t life events be encrypted with dream events? Why not? O.G. came close to this option. Dilactorskaya, but never developed the topic.

In connection with this assumption, I recall the reflection of one Chinese philosopher who dreamed of himself as a butterfly, and now does not know for sure whether he is a butterfly who dreamed that he was a philosopher... or whether he is a philosopher who dreamed that he was a butterfly...

This alignment of events would be very much in the spirit of Gogol. Here he would definitely enjoy both the encryption process and the reaction of the narrow-minded and empty-headed public. Which is exactly what happened. Such a plot would have greatly amused Pushkin, who was generally a big fan of all kinds of literary jokes and hooliganism. What kind of epigrams are there, they cannot be compared with the large-scale mystification of society.
Indeed, the idea is simple to the point of genius. And only the lazy did not solve dreams at that time. It was customary to tell them to each other and solve them. How simple it turns out: solve Major Kovalev’s worries AS a dream, and you won’t need one, or the other, or the third (which, incidentally, is what happened with the interpretations as Nikolai Vasilyevich intended).
And the true meaning will be revealed.
What is it like to turn reality into a dream, huh?! What an idea! Having established the truth, all we have to do is return things to their true position - to where they were before Gogol turned them into sleepy symbols.
Well, let's turn to the ancient Slavic traditions, the symbolism of dreams, which has developed over the centuries and which Gogol used, like his grandmothers and great-grandmothers before him, which we use with the same ease now.
2.
“That was, friends, Martyn Zadeka, the Head of the Chaldean sages, the Fortune Teller, the interpreter of dreams”;
A.S. Pushkin. "Eugene Onegin".
The story is about the collegiate assessor Kovalev, who arrived in St. Petersburg after serving in the Caucasus. There, in just a couple of years, he received the title of collegiate assessor, which characterizes him as a brave, adventurous and intelligent person. Indeed, where else can you get a quick promotion and salary if not in a zone of paramilitary conflict? This guy definitely has a lot of courage. His “quick” assessorship gave him incomparably greater prospects in civilian life than those he would have received if he had studied honestly at the university. Who would Major Kovalev be now, in our time? It turns out that he is a provincial, a contract soldier in the Caucasian war, in which he received a “fast” rank. And now, as then, I would come at the end of my service to conquer the capital. Then - St. Petersburg, now - Moscow... “out of necessity, namely, to look for a place decent for one’s rank: if possible, then a vice-governor’s, or else an executor’s in some prominent place.” Lip is not a fool, in a word. Well, the city only takes courage. After all, for some reason he was given the title SO FAST...
Why shouldn’t he dream and make such plans - after all, the first half of his plan was a success: he has the rank of major, time saved on training - that is, youth. He has a romantic image of a hero and a good name as a defender of the fatherland. Plus a strong provincial grip. Well, this is natural...
This is what Major Kovalev essentially represents.
And how did Nikolai Vasilyevich emphasize: “Caucasian collegiate assessor... after all, collegiate assessors who receive this title with the help of academic certificates cannot in any way be compared with those collegiate assessors who receive their title in the Caucasus. But Russia is such a wonderful land..." Indeed, wonderful... And nothing changes in it...

Well, let's return to our sufferer, the major. As already mentioned, the description of the major’s appearance contains a lot of small and unnecessary, at first glance, details: “... the collar of his shirtfront is always extremely clean and starched... his sideburns go to the middle of his cheek and... reach his nose. Major Kovalev wore many carnelian signets with coats of arms, and those on which were carved: Wednesday, Thursday, Monday, etc.”

And if we try to translate the description of Kovalev’s image into dream symbols - so, if we dreamed about him, we would wonder: why did we see so many different rings on his hands... and why is his collar starched... How we see ourselves in a dream in a new dressed up, and in the morning we wait for changes in reality or news.
This is the logic we will apply.
To be sure, let’s turn to the modern story, Martyn Zadeka’s dream book and the symbolic system of Evgeniy Petrovich Tsvetkov. The latter’s research in this area seems to me the most complete and reliable, or something... if we can talk about reliability in such a matter as solving dreams... however, he mentioned in one of his comments that his research is based, among other things, on Old Russian dream books , the symbols of which were used, perhaps, by all of Gogol’s contemporaries, like Nikolai Vasilyevich himself, which is confirmed by other sources.

So, according to the dream book, a COLLAR in a dream is a sign of prestige and social security. Kovalev’s collar is not only always clean, but also starched - that is, artificially strengthened. This means that Kovalev’s social position is the same. He is pure, prestigious and stable in the eyes of others. Sideburns mean profit according to the dream book (148) - how could it be otherwise for a military officer with such a grip...

Even with such a superficial overlay of symbols on the image, a duplication of direct descriptions of the character given by the author in the text is visible. But it could also be a coincidence, why not. So, we can check further.

And then Kovalev wakes up in the morning and the first thing he does is look in the mirror, and in it he sees that there is no nose on his face. According to Tsvetkov - MIRROR - looking into it - as you see, this is the attitude towards you around you (196), and according to Martyn Zadeka (hereinafter - M.Z.) - marriage, and losing your NOSE in a dream - to divorce or death (150) , or to a loss (M.Z). However, having an idea of the aspirations of Major Kovalev, it is not difficult to guess that the loss of a good name or reputation for him is like death, since he has nothing but a good name and reputation as a glorious hero, and it is on them that he relies in order to succeed in life.
For him, success = life. So if society turns its back on him, he will lose his future. His social death will come, which for him is worse than physical, probably so. In this context, his desperate exclamation, which looks very strange in the text, is organic: “the nose disappeared for nothing, for nothing, for nothing, for nothing!” (III, 64). According to Martyn Zadeka, who was popular in Gogol’s time, it turns out that at one fine moment Kovalev found out that he had suddenly lost a profitable marriage.

Let's summarize. A certain provincial careerist (after all, he is in the capital out of necessity), with a reputation as a hero and the ability to deal with people, comes to conquer a big city, where he quickly acquires prestigious acquaintances (after all, he WALKED along NEVSKY PROSPECT every day, and this leads to new acquaintances (138 Nevsky is not an ordinary street, but the main city street - it is not in vain that Gogol emphasizes this fact. He is accepted, everything should move towards the fact that he will soon marry a rich woman, get some kind of chair and calm down. But one day they suddenly stop accepting him, he is being discussed on every corner, someone has spread indecent rumors about him that society does not forgive.In a word, there will be no marriage!

That's what I think this story is about.
And no one’s noses have anything to do with it.
And its name should be something like “Reputation” or “Good Name”. This is how the NOS turns out. But let’s not delude ourselves. After all, even now we are not immune from some simple coincidences. And then you still need to confirm the assumptions, otherwise... why is all this?

Questions arise.
For example, this: why, in fact, such a prudent and thoughtful Kovalev suddenly lost his good name one day? After all, by and large, his reputation is all he has. Everything in his life revolves around one goal: to marry profitably. And then all doors will open to him, and life will be arranged forever. Therefore, he does not miss a single skirt, each time hoping for a marriage arrangement. Marriage is his only way into high society. Where then did he miss? Why on earth?

Or here’s another: the barber Ivan Yakovlevich from Voznesensky Prospekt. After all, it was he who discovered the major’s nose in his baked bread, and then threw it into the river. What kind of character is he in the real story of Kovalev? What is his real bottom, huh? Gogol characterizes him as follows: “A terrible drunkard... his tailcoat was piebald... his collar was shiny, and instead of three buttons there were only threads hanging.” Kovalev shaved with him, and often pointed out to the barber his eternally stinking hands. And what could all this mean? According to the dream book, DRUNK, DRINKRIAN - guilty, bad news, accusations (209), shame, trouble (M, Z,). The same fact was already established by the police, who exposed the barber for cheating with noses, returning to Kovalev the lost dignity of his face in a rag, blaming the barber for everything. But this is in the finale. We are dealing with the author's application of the character. This means that he really is terribly to blame for the whole story from the very beginning.

It remains to be seen how. FRAC is piebald, his conscience, relationships with others, and also failures in business are stained (205). Well, what does a FASHED COLLAR mean – let’s guess the first time – lack of prestige and unimportance of the social element. One more detail: BUTTONS - losing - stupid position (205). In pre-revolutionary Russia, the service department was really determined by the type of buttons. Their absence from the tailcoat can be regarded as a lack of service and responsibilities. BUTTONS also mean income, prosperity, but in our case it is the same thing: no service - no income. And the smell from hands is a classic: “unclean” - we are talking about a dubious person. What happens? Ivan Yakovlevich is an unscrupulous loser in a stupid position, a “scapegoat.” And then - his profession - a barber - means cutting and shaving. The inscription above his door: “And they open the blood” - of course, the author’s joke: they say, as if he would let the blood flow - “he will open it.” That is, he will cut while he is cutting or shaving (always drunk, after all). According to the dream book, TO SHAVE your hair means dishonor, betrayal (237), and TO SHAVE means losses (M, Z). The conclusion suggests itself: the true, real occupation of Ivan Yakovlevich is indeed extremely doubtful: this comrade specializes in betrayal and causing losses, trades in dishonor - what could it be?
Maybe blackmail, or a slander? Where's the evidence?
Let's go to the text. Everything there is logical and complete, otherwise Gogol would not be Gogol. After all, who could come up with such a thing? Surely he is an exceptionally smart person, endowed with an excellent sense of humor, just like the author. After all, Gogol received the position of associate professor of general history at St. Petersburg University, without having, so to speak, a higher education? That's it.

However, let's return to Ivan Yakovlevich. So, one morning at breakfast, our barber cut white bread into two halves and found a nose in the middle, which he recognized as the nose of our protagonist. After some confusion, he threw it, wrapped in a rag, into the river near St. Isaac's Bridge. The warden noticed the machinations and seemed to begin to inquire about what was being done and why... but suddenly “the incident is completely covered in fog, and absolutely nothing is known what happened next.”

In general, fresh soft white BREAD in a dream means wealth, profit and new opportunities, and if there is something inside, then expect income through it (211), (M.Z). That is, there seems to be confirmation of our assumption about the type of business Ivan Yakovlevich uses by blackmail. Indeed, what else can you call this trade if a person finds the core of his wealth to be someone else’s reputation and good name? That is, one fine day our barber suddenly became the owner of some information compromising Major Kovalev. What kind of information could a professional blackmailer and gossip get about the major?
There are two or three circumstances in mind in the story that Gogol mentions in passing.
The first is the major’s love for all kinds of rings and signets, which he happily wore in abundance: remember carnelian and other signets, and even those with the names of the days of the week?
According to the dream book, RINGS of any kind as decoration are a symbol of connection and relationships (158). For example, losing a ring in a dream means separation, and finding it means a connection or proposal (M.Z). And in reality, losing a ring is a bad omen, so... It would be logical to assume that Kovalev’s abundance of rings is a sign of many connections and relationships with women. And the pleasure with which he wore them indicates, apparently, that the guy loved to brag about his victories and did not hide them. After all, what was his first thought when he saw himself in the mirror without a nose? About the fact that he will not be able to appear in society (but he must get married!) And the second? That he has many acquaintances with ladies, some of whom he is not averse to pursuing. And the author clearly indicated: the major was not averse to getting married, but he didn’t want just any bride, but with a dowry. And not just any way, but not less than two hundred thousand. And as long as there was no one nearby, the major did not refuse even one-day connections: remember, signets with the names of the days of the week: Wednesday, Thursday, Monday? This is one-night stands. That is, we can assume his visits to prostitutes. Why not? Well, what kind of decent society woman of the 19th century would agree to a one-day relationship, about which the whole Nevsky would know in the morning (after all, he wore his signets in plain sight, with pleasure)?

There is a direct reference in the text to these Kovalev visits to girls:
“They won’t tear off a decent person’s nose,” says a private bailiff, “there are many majors in the world who... . . they hang around in all sorts of obscene places” (III, 63). And Gogol, using his word as the author, confirms his complete agreement with the opinion of the private bailiff: “That is, not in the eyebrow, but straight in the eye!” (III, 63).
Like, what did you want, Major, for your behavior? If only you could live like a human being, and you would have a human reputation...
It’s strange why the Nose researchers didn’t pay attention to these words...
This may be the reason for the revelation. Kovalev is an officer, a hero. A respected member of society, and suddenly - prostitutes. Not good…

Second circumstance. There was definitely a connection with a certain young lady, whom the major had given up as a sailor and abandoned and categorically did not want to marry - we learn about this from the episode with his letter to her mother, staff officer Podtochina. By the way, Kovalev wrote this letter after the barber was accused of being a blackmailer. Another interesting episode is the appearance of a policeman in Kovalev’s house.
The third circumstance is the meaning of the dreamy symbols according to Martyn Zadeka, which Gogol’s contemporaries were so keen on: the nose disappeared - the marriage was upset, found in bread - through this he received wealth. It's that simple.

It is noteworthy that Ivan Yakovlevich has a strained relationship with the police, whom he encounters at least twice. The first time was when our hairdresser tried to throw someone else's nose into the river. If we take into account that NOS is Kovalev’s marriage, on which he placed the main bet in his life, Kovalev’s life itself, his reputation, and RIVER - speeches, conversations (M.Z), then he was attracted precisely at the moment when he was “leaking” confidential information about the major to the masses, so to speak. That is, he was caught spreading rumors about a respected person. The place is described in detail and there is even an interesting conversation between the barber and the warden. The warden is trying to find out what Ivan Yakovlevich is doing, and he, in turn, offers him a bribe in the form of free service: they say, I’ll tell you “salt” that I’ll find out completely free of charge... Like, they called an informant? How things ended with them is unknown, since it was at that moment that everything was covered in darkness... That’s it... That is, the fact of a scrape with the police is clearly indicated by the author. From this moment on, our swindler completely disappears from the story and appears only at the end, when the policeman personally restored Kovalev’s good name and reported that the culprit of the incident had been found, which in the context of the story seems completely illogical. And this happens precisely at the moment when Kovalev himself is already desperate to correct the situation. After all, despite the established fact of guilt, it remains unclear why information about the riotous and immoral behavior of Major Kovalev received such a negative public response. But if you superimpose dream meaning onto the outline of these phantasmagoric events, then everything immediately falls into place. Here is a loser and a blackmailer who declares publicly: why am I worse than others? There - the hero of the Caucasian war, collegiate assessor Kovalev - visits the “ladies” and does not hide it, he deceived the girl, but refuses to marry, boasts of victories over noble women! And at the same time it makes for a rich marriage! How, one wonders, am I worse than him? Because I don’t have shoulder straps and don’t have any service?! This is how the events took place approximately according to the transcript.

I apologize for the slight digression and return to the letter sent by Kovalev to Podtochina in a moment of despair. This letter is the last, extreme step that Kovalev decides to take before “submitting a complaint.” After all, despite the fact that the culprit of the leapfrog was found, Kovalev’s situation did not improve. It is still not accepted (the nose does not stick). These are the circumstances under which he writes to the headquarters officer in the hope that she will not agree to finally return his good name without a fight without the grave need to marry her daughter. He DOESN'T UNDERSTAND why he is not accepted. He is sure that all this is because of the girl who told her mother about their affair and now they are compromising him in order to force him to marry. In the context of the story, by the way, this letter looks strange: and some kind of daughter... Where did she come from when there was no hint of her anywhere. Now it’s clear where it came from.
Well, what’s next for him with his daughter, our major? With her mother, to be precise, who is accused by Kovalev of terrible deceit - to marry! What more! In the letter, he tells her that under no circumstances will he marry her daughter, that he would rather sue for the return of his good name!
Podtochina didn’t move in at all, what’s the matter with Kovalev. From her answer it is clear that, firstly, her daughter did not betray him, and secondly, that this woman is simple-minded and incapable of meanness at all. Therefore, she cannot be to blame for the mess, which is what Kovalev immediately came to after reading her letter.
But he continues to NOT UNDERSTAND why he is not accepted. Although – what is simpler, pray tell? Well, trips to prostitutes, a secret relationship with some girl, noble mistresses (remember carnelian signets?) came out - well, so what’s wrong with that?! He is a combat officer, a hero, why on earth is it impossible?! This is Platon Kuzmich Kovalev’s thoughts in his thoughts. He will never understand that his behavior is immoral, that the girl’s honor has a price and is compromised by HIS grace, that connections with prostitutes are shameful and everything, EVERYTHING that he likes must be hidden, and in no case should he boast about it. This is public opinion, and it is completely justified. Indeed, even today, the reason for the resignation of one high-ranking Russian prosecutor was precisely the video recording of “girls” with whom “a person very similar to the prosecutor” was “having fun.” That's it.

However, Kovalev is a provincial in the bad sense of the word. The capital for him is a symbol of a beautiful life. And this is exactly how he sees the beautiful life he leads. And amorous victories are her indispensable attribute. It is important for him that everyone knows what a macho man and hero he is, not only in the Caucasus mountains. He does not see the boundaries of moral and immoral behavior. It is not surprising that such a character as Ivan Yakovlevich learned about his exploits. Well, he leaked his opinion to the people. And he was caught by the police because he had no protection either in his service or in his income. Like this.
Well, yes, letters are letters, but the city is absolutely buzzing all this time. The unpleasant story of the conqueror of ladies' hearts is discussed on every corner. It is not for nothing that at this point in the story the major’s nose is seen either on Nevsky Prospekt or in Juncker’s store. Entire crowds gather to look at Major Kovalev’s nose, and no one is interested in where his owner, Kovalev, is at that moment. But the CROWD (137), CRUSH (180), WIDE STREETS, SQUARE (136) - these are all the same thing: news, scandals, public proceedings, obstacles and public outcry.
Nose - A good name in connection with the upset marriage of Major Kovalev - is now in front of everyone: discussed, condemned, examined through the lens of moral values: he must be a war hero, an officer, an assessor and - so vile, vile. How can such a person have such merit? So it turns out that the major turned out to be separate, and his ranks and regalia – separately.

From the point of view of some moral issues, Kovalev’s meeting in the temple with his own nose is interesting. CHURCH - praying in it - happiness in all matters, entering - remorse, temple - well-being (138). Here the author declares the culmination of the story, the moment of truth for both the main character and the reader. Kovalev, in his social vacuum due to loss of reputation, suddenly realizes and clearly sees that a GOOD NAME is an independent value. Remember - Nose in the temple “prayed with an expression of the greatest piety,” and Kovalev shoots his eyes at the girls.
Remember their dialogue? Nose then answered Kovalev:
-You are mistaken, dear sir, I am on my own. Moreover, there cannot be any close relations between us. Judging by the buttons on your uniform, you must serve in another department.
How everything immediately becomes clear, doesn’t it? Translating this phrase is now easy:
-Your GOOD NAME is now on its own. There is nothing in common between you. Judging by you, you are not worthy of it in terms of your occupation.
This is the sentence Gogol gave to his hero.

Now we know exactly what signs a GOOD NAME has from the point of view of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. To do this, let's carefully examine Nose's costume and explain what's what.
I will not re-quote the source - the work is short, and the reader, if he wants, will find both the scene in the church and the description of Nose’s costume.
Well then. Again - COLLAR – high, standing: strong social position. A HAT with a plume is profit (161) (and this is also Kovalev’s dream: the rank of state councilor). A UNIFORM embroidered with gold is a privilege in this interpretation.
That is, a GOOD NAME brings Kovalev EVERYTHING he dreamed of, if he had understood it right away. But no... He's all about the women... This is the result.

The conflict becomes transparent and understandable to the end: take care of your dress from a new age, and take care of your honor from a young age. Honor, it turns out, is a separate and independent value. A good name, a reputation - this turns out to be something without which you will not get anything in life, you will not fulfill a single desire. They are life itself. It is interesting in this vein to remember that in Ancient Egypt the nose was also considered a symbol of the transition from life to death in some way. This begs a philosophical question: what then is considered death? For Kovalev, for example, the loss of honor as a respectable citizen is tantamount to death. It's an interesting plot, isn't it? It is not for nothing that Gogol indicated this discovery in the church: after all, it’s true, everything is from God. But even in the house of God, our fellow keeps shooting eyes at pretty girls. Incorrigible. Not understanding what is happening, he continues to suffer quite sincerely in his isolation: “... there is an acquaintance... the court councilor is coming... there is Yarygin, the head of the Senate... there is another major who received assessorship in the Caucasus...” Everyone, they say, is the same as me... They live the same way... they are no different from me... Nah. They are different. They are silent about all this. They don’t want to “get into history.”

However, let's move on. After all, the story must have another turn. What does our major do next? How is he going to regain his good name? He is looking for support. He rushed to the chief of police, but he, naturally, did not accept him. Afterwards he took a cab driver and desperately shouted to him: straight ahead! – but immediately faced a choice: to the right or to the left? In theory, I should have gone straight to the Deanery Office (where else would such a scoundrel?), but I decided to go on a newspaper expedition. Translating from Russian into Russian, he decided to declare his misfortune and strong indignation about this in the newspaper: Well, he went after the girls! Well, he “dumped” the young lady! And what?! He is a hero, he has merits, regalia, a title in the end - what, he doesn’t have the right?! And don’t you dare discuss!
Well, is this really so? After all, this would actually be a scandal of morals: I will behave as I please - even if with women - what's wrong with that?! I'm a hero! I have merit! Oh... Scandal, in a word. For this reason, he received a refusal from the newspaperman. He was directly told that such announcements would cause the newspaper's reputation to suffer. In addition, there was already a similar announcement: they say that a black poodle has escaped. The poodle later turned out to be the treasurer. Nonsense, fantasy? Not at all. A DOG is a friend, a reliable person; if it runs away (in a dream) - it means loss, and also black fur - bad news, losses (142). So it turns out that they entrusted funds to a person, relied on him, and he, the dog, ran away! So everything is simple and clear. So both the dog and the nose are pure allegories...

Well, Nikolai Vasilyevich, are we slowly unraveling your joke?
After the refusal from the editorial office, Kovalev, not having a hard time, went to a private bailiff to look for legal authority, but he, so to speak, sent him (well, he has no nose and that’s all). What did you want, major? Your behavior is not regulated by law. But it’s not encouraged, that’s it.
Having received a turnaround everywhere, the major just began to think that it was all about women! And he wrote a letter to Podtochina. But even here I didn’t guess. The deceived girl did not hand him over to her mother - she also has a Good Name, and she values it.
And so he ends up left at home alone, in the dark. DARKNESS according to the dream book – difficulties and uncertainty (140). He thinks bitter thoughts, remembers the barber's shave (with good reason), after which all his adventures began. And then his thoughts were interrupted by “the light flashing through all the door holes.” It was Ivan who lit the Candle and walked with it to the owner in the dark, “brightly illuminating the whole room.”

A few minutes later the police chief appeared and turned Kovalev’s nose back. I wonder what Ivan has to do with the candle, why? And then, I think that this “extra” detail is an accent, Gogol’s hint for the code. Because a CANDLE lit in a dream - according to Martyn Zadek - generally means marriage! And - definitely to luck in a hopeless case (205). Isn’t that what Kovalev is all about? And LIGHT from cracks through closed doors is good luck despite obstacles from people (129). And if the LIGHT is bright, it definitely means great luck, and for the sick (like the noseless major) it means recovery (139). That is, Gogol with this detail makes it clear that although there will still be obstacles, now everything will definitely work out for Kovalev (in the literal sense). The rumor monger is captured and declared guilty. The police found out that our barber is generally a criminal person, he loses his occupation (which is natural) and is shifted from Voznesenskaya to Sezzhaya. This is also natural, isn’t it?
So, the culprit of the rumors has been exposed, the major’s civil reputation has been restored (his nose has grown back in the end), and the major is even looking forward to marriage again, but! Now - if “so simple, out of love.”

A dirty story, in a word, it turns out. Here we have found the answer to the reason for encryption. Who will publish about this? You can’t go on a newspaper expedition with such material...
No wonder V. G. Belinsky exclaimed about the hero of “The Nose”: “He is not Major Kovalev, but Major Kovalev.” The critic’s definition highlights not just the concept of typification, but typification raised to a power.
And he knew perfectly well what he was talking about.

N.G. Chernyshevsky, polemicizing with those literary critics who compared Gogol the science fiction writer with Hoffmann, pointed out that, unlike the latter, Gogol did not invent anything, but only used well-known plots. “With Hoffmann,” wrote Chernyshevsky, “Gogol does not have the slightest resemblance: one himself invents, independently invents fantastic adventures from a purely German life, the other literally retells Little Russian legends (“Viy”) or well-known jokes (“The Nose”). What was a well-known anecdote for Chernyshevsky, as well as for the story’s contemporaries in general, is a historical mystery for generations of literary scholars arguing about the sources of the story “The Nose.” We are talking about the tradition of folk popular prints: simple pictures with simple explanatory text. Only Gogol “wrapped this picture in a rag” - wrapped it in a second meaning, which was also transparently clear to all his contemporaries, which some rejected due to the subtlety of their instincts - like Shevyrev and Pogodin, for example.
And others were amused by this indecent meaning - like, for example, Pushkin.
As proof, I will cite the following well-known fact: the first drafts of the story “The Nose” date back to the end of 1832 or the beginning of 1833, and its draft edition was completed no later than August 1834. Gogol began finalizing the story, intending to publish it in the Moscow Observer, a magazine that was started in Moscow by Gogol’s friends S.P. Shevyrev and M.P. Pogodin, and in which Gogol was going to take an active part. On March 18, 1835, he sent the manuscript to Moscow, accompanying it with a letter to Pogodin: “I am sending you a nose (...) If in case your stupid censorship becomes attached to the fact that the nose cannot be in the Kazan Church, then perhaps you can transfer him to the Catholic one. However, I don’t think that she has lost her mind to such an extent. However, “The Nose” never appeared in the “Moscow Observer”: according to Belinsky’s later testimony, Shevyrev and Pogodin rejected the story as “dirty, vulgar and trivial." A strange conclusion, considering that, firstly, his friends refused him, and secondly, a fairy-tale plot: well, his nose disappeared, well, his nose was found. Well, what’s so vulgar, vulgar, dirty, trivial about this? Why? refused?

Of course, one must understand all the sarcasm of Pushkin’s statement: oh, well, I really didn’t agree... oh, so many fantastic and funny things! Oh, how original – to turn his own, Pushkin’s idea of describing a dream inside out! Write about a rogue, a womanizer, who goes to prostitutes, seduces decent girls, builds a profitable marriage - and at the same time is a decent person, respected by society - and no one will notice it! SUCH a manuscript really gave Alexander Sergeevich pleasure, who would doubt it. He himself, a lover of epigrams and social provocations, could not help but publish such a large-scale and ambiguous provocation: everyone understands what it is about, but formally – in terms of the plot – you can’t find fault. That is why we can assume with almost complete certainty that everyone knew the true meaning of “The Nose”: Shevyrev, and Pogodin, who “wrapped” the manuscript, and Pushkin, of course, and Belinsky. Who quickly called Kovalev a social phenomenon. So…
3.
That's almost all. We answered the author’s main questions: why didn’t Kovalev realize that he couldn’t go on a newspaper expedition - because his behavior scandalized the moral values of society; and how his nose ended up in the baked bread - because in this way the author encoded the center of the intrigue about blackmail; and we even agree that such stories still exist in the world - they still do! And the rarity and exclusivity of this story lies precisely in the fact that Kovalev got away unscathed: he retained his rank, assessorship and connections. Such stories, as a rule, end in resignations at a minimum. We, together with the main character, received an exceptional opportunity to rejoice at such a happy turn of events for him and his return to the camp of the chosen society.

All that remains is to summarize in general terms and finally find out what Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol really wanted to convey to us and, most importantly, why he encrypted and hid the true course of events.
Of course, the real title of the story is something like “The Tale of a Good Name” or “Reputation.” And its content is by no means delirium, and not a phantasmagoria, and not a dream, and not the fruit of a strange fantasy.
This is a story-reflection about true and false values, about misconceptions and discoveries, about losses and gains of the soul. It turns out that you can be beautiful, smart, brave, have success with women, money and connections - you can have all the blessings of the world and bet on your exclusivity and be wrong. Because the main wealth of life is completely different: respect for public opinion, moral principles based on love. Sincerity and honesty with people - be it men or women. And – love itself, around which the intrigue of the whole action revolves. These ephemeral categories that cannot be put into your pocket or tasted are the basis for the fulfillment of our desires. Any desires. Especially if, on top of everything else, you are smart, handsome, and brave. Kovalev lacked precisely this ephemeral filling of the soul. After all, even a newspaperman cares about the publication’s reputation, that’s how it is.

What Kovalev was really lucky with was the barber, since he was made a scapegoat (loser, what can we take from him). So it turns out that a mediocre loser started a rumor about Kovalev, stole his brilliant future in the form of a profitable marriage - “thief, swindler, villain”, buried his reputation with his own hands - and he himself suffered for his words: it turned out - he slandered a noble man . After all, from the point of view of society - who is he - Ivan, what’s his name... And who is Kovalev... So that’s it... Kovalev will not see a rich bride. But they didn’t refuse the houses either - it’s not his fault! They slandered him! Rarely are people lucky in such stories. Rare luck, rare. The plot is interesting and truly worthy of a book. Only “you can’t write about it so directly... it’s not good... it’s awkward...” Gogol knew what he was writing about, he knew everything. And even now our officials are not very eager to advertise their amorous connections. Well, yes, that’s what we were talking about... this is such an eternal story. Oh, eternal.

There is a remark about this by M.Yu. Lermontov in “Princess Ligovskaya”: “Oh! Our history is a terrible thing; whether you acted nobly or basely, right or wrong, you could have avoided it or you couldn’t, but your name is mixed up in history... all the same, you lose everything: the goodwill of society, careers, friends... nothing can be more terrible than this, no matter how this story ends !.. You forced people to talk about you for two days. Suffer for twenty years for this!.. In our country, an declared bribe-taker is received very well everywhere: he is justified with the phrase: and! who doesn’t do this!.. The coward is treated kindly everywhere, because he is a quiet fellow, but involved in history! - O! there is no mercy for him: mothers say about him: “God knows what kind of person he is!”, and daddies add: “Scoundrel!”

That's the whole answer, isn't it? Major Kovalev, as a provincial, did not know, and could not know, the rules of the “world,” so he got caught. So he doesn’t understand why Yarygin walks around as if nothing had happened; and a collegiate assessor like himself... And all because they know the rules of the game, but he doesn’t. That is why he will no longer see a profitable bride - “God knows what kind of person he is”...

But here again the question arises. Yes, it was difficult for our hero without a nose. But why rejoice if our hero is still literally left with nothing in the end? That is, in reality - with nothing. He will no longer be able to marry a rich woman - Ivan Yakovlevich, although accused of all sins, still buried Kovalev’s reputation (buried his nose). Kovalev will not have two hundred thousand. And the coveted chairs will no longer be available to him. Now all he cares about is love – like before... And he’s as happy as a child! This is strange. Although... After all, he could have lost everything, even the opportunity to simply live in the capital (what to do in it if you are driven from everywhere like a dog). And it all ended simply with the cessation of social prospects. But they forgave him for this story - it was not his fault! - and they accept it again. That's good luck! God be with them, with their prospects, the girls are still left! Somebody will go for him! This is how Platon Kuzmich was left with his nose and completely happy.

Conclusion.

The idea of encrypting a dirty and obscene plot with sleepy symbols is simple and ingenious. Just how could Nikolai Vasilyevich know that someday people will stop solving dreams?
But he knew for sure that, having ever learned the true content of his fantastic story, people “would feel indecent, awkward, and not good!” Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol had a lot of fun writing this puzzle... And Alexander Sergeevich, judging by his words from the publisher, also received complete pleasure from this whole undertaking. And if they could only imagine that more plays would be staged based on this story... and films would be made... Ha-ha-ha... They could just as well have filmed the quatrains of Nostradamus... well, it’s really funny.
Nikolai Vasilyevich has been gone for a long time. But even now, 200 years later, human values have not changed. More and more Kovalevs come to conquer the capital, and nothing changes under the sun. And Gogol chuckled, probably with his sly Ukrainian smile: well, have you eaten? Is it hard to guess what I wanted to convey to you?
Not weak anymore. You guessed it. And your story doesn’t fit into the school curriculum, oh... it was not in vain that they were encrypted...

Footnotes:
1. DIAGNOSIS – GENIUS. V.F.Chizh, Konstantin Kedrov "Gogol's Disease", M., "Republic"
2. Rovinsky, SOBR. Op. in 5 volumes. The picture and text of “The Adventures of the Nose” are placed in Rovinsky’s five-volume collection under number 183 (Rovinsky I, pp. 420-422; ill. 1). It also contains information about three editions of this picture. The first was made at the Akhmetyevsk factory by master Chuvaev and dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The second came out in the 1820-1830s, and the third in the 1830-1840s. The second and third contained minor changes.
3. Tearing off all and every mask." Lesson-research based on N.V. Gogol's story "The Nose." Galina Ivanovna Perfilyeva, teacher of Russian language and literature.
4. Bulletin of SamSU, 2003, Special. Issue, L.P. Rassovskaya, “The Blasphemous Works of Pushkin and Gogol (“Gavriliad” and “The Nose”) “An important feature of the story has long been noted - the absence of any explanations not only of the main event, but also of plot collisions. And in fact, how did the nose disappear from Kovalev’s face and what does the barber Ivan Yakovlevich have to do with it if he shaved the major two days before; how it got into the bread and why it wasn’t baked in it; who and in what capacity - a nose or a person - pulled him out of the river; how the nose and the person coexist simultaneously without merging; how to explain the “incorruptibility” of the nose for two weeks before reuniting with the circulatory system of its owner’s body? (...) If you analyze their sound, you will discover a hidden logic in the development of the action - parodic. The Annunciation is a holiday that for many centuries was considered not the feast of Mary, but the feast of Jesus, as the first day of his existence, the initial moment in the history of the incarnation of God, i.e. earthly life of the Savior. In his attempt to become human, Mr. Nose did without a mother, and his symbolic “father” was Kovalev. Having undergone initiation and becoming an official, he wanted to go on a journey (like Christ at the beginning of his mission), but was captured and deprived of his human status, but his “body” remained incorruptible, and on Easter Sunday he was reunited with his “father” (ascended) ". page 13
5. Russian literature. - 1984. - No. 1. P.153 – 166, O.G. Dilactorskaya. Fantastic in the story by N.V. Gogol's "Nose"
6. Belinsky, complete. SOBR. Soch., t. 3, M., 1953, p. 105
7. Magazine “Sovremennik”, M., 1836, No. 3, reprint edition.

8. “Gogol himself believed that only “Dead Souls” would solve the riddle of his existence. “I firmly decided not to reveal anything from my spiritual history (...),” he wrote in “The Author’s Confession,” “in the confidence that when the second and third volumes of “Dead Souls” come out, everything will be explained by them and no one will ask: what is the author himself?..” Vladimir Voropaev on the 150th anniversary of the death of N.V. Gogol’s article “A schema-monk broken in spirit.” Bulletin of the UOC, 04/01/2002.
9. “While working on “The Nose,” Gogol remade the ending of the story: initially, the fantastic nature of the events described in it was motivated by Major Kovalev’s dream. The change in ending was most likely caused by the appearance in the Northern Bee, No. 192 of August 27, 1834, signed “R.M.” reviews of Pushkin's stories, which criticized the dream motivation of fantasy used in The Undertaker as extremely outdated. When reworking the end of "The Nose", Gogol took into account the remark of "R. M." and at the same time parodied his review. During publication, the story suffered significantly from censorship: the meeting between Kovalev and Nos was moved from the Kazan Cathedral to Gostiny Dvor, and a number of sharp satirical statements were eliminated. In Gogol's collected works of 1842, "The Nose" was placed in the third volume, among other stories related to the St. Petersburg theme. At the same time, the ending of the story was reworked once again. The famous critic of the 40-50s, Apollo Grigoriev, called “The Nose” a “deep fantastic” work in which “a whole life is empty, aimlessly formal, (...) restlessly moving - stands in front of you with this wandering nose - and, if you know it, this life, - and you cannot not know it after all the details that the great artist unfolds before you," then the "mirage life" evokes in you not only laughter, but also chilling horror." Authors of the article M N. Virolainen and O. G. Dilaktorskaya
Published according to the publication: "Russian fantastic prose
era of romanticism", Leningrad University Publishing House
10. “Gogol, as we remember, chose a unique technique for presenting the fantastic, as if inverting the generally accepted one - a dream similar to reality. In any case, the dream motif (perhaps as a vestige of the first edition) is palpable in the story. Kovalev, in connection with the fantastic disappearance of his nose, raves in reality as if in a dream: “This is probably either a dream, or just a dream. . . The major pinched himself. . . This pain completely assured him that he was acting and living in reality. . ." (III, 65). The motif of reality, similar to a dream, permeates the entire plot of the story.” O.G. Dilactorskaya. Tale by N.V. Gogol’s “Nose” (everyday fact as a structural element of fiction), Vestnik Leningrad State University, 1983, issue 3
11. At the end of the second chapter of “Zhuang Tzu” there is one of the most famous fragments: One day Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly fluttering in the air and pleased with himself. He didn't know that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and realized that he was Zhuang Zhou. Only he did not know who he was - whether he was Zhuang Zhou, who dreamed that he was a butterfly, or whether he was a butterfly who dreamed that he was Zhuang Zhou. But there is a difference between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly! This is what is called the transformation of ten thousand things! Zhuang Zhou Born: 4th century. BC, Died: III century. BC, Main works: “Zhuang Tzu”.
12. With the help of popular prints, interest in the interpretation of dreams through “dream books” was strongly supported, one of which (Martyn Zadeki) was mentioned in “Eugene Onegin”. In a more educated society, fortune-telling has long been transformed into secular fun, into salon entertainment. Interesting in this regard is a French book of the 15th century, published from the manuscript of A. Bobrinsky and characterized by A. N. Veselovsky in the “Bulletin of Europe” for 1886. Such is the fate of many other fortune-telling: from a serious, albeit naive desire to understand the world and fate - to cultural experience in the form of mild superstition, entertainment, and games.
13. Code of laws of the Russian Empire. St. Petersburg, 1835, p. 105.
14. See text "Nose"
15. See text "Nose"
16. See text "Nose"
17. “By the way, the famous dream book of Martin Zadek was also called “Ancient and new everlasting fortune-telling oracle, found after the death of one hundred and six-year-old old man Martin Zadek, by which he learned the fate of everyone through the circles of human happiness and misfortune, with the addition of a Magic Mirror or interpretation of dreams; also rules of Physiognomy and Palmistry, or the Sciences of how to recognize by the constitution of the body and the position of the hand or features the properties and fate of the male and female sexes, with the application of his own Zadek’s predictions of the most curious incidents in Europe, justified by the event, with the addition of Hocus Pocus and funny riddles with answers.” (M., 1814). Yu. M. Lotman rightly points out the possibility that this book was in Pushkin’s library. Lotman Yu. M. Roman A. S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”: Commentary. L., 1983. P. 277. Fundamental electronic library “Russian literature and folklore”, V.V. Golovin, p. 186. (http://feb-web.ru/feb/pushkin/serial/v91/v91-181-.htm)
18. With the help of popular prints, interest in the interpretation of dreams through “dream books” was strongly supported, one of which (Martyn Zadeki) was mentioned in “Eugene Onegin”. In a more educated society, fortune-telling has long been transformed into social entertainment and parlor entertainment. Interesting in this regard is a French book from the 15th century, published from a manuscript by A. Bobrinsky and characterized by A.N. Veselovsky in the “Bulletin of Europe” for 1886. This is the fate of many other fortune-telling: from a serious, albeit naive desire to understand the world and fate - to cultural experience in the form of light superstition, entertainment, and games. Smirnov Vasily. Folk fortune telling in the Kostroma region. Essay and texts, Kostroma, 1927.
19. “The trustee of the St. Petersburg educational district, Prince M.A. Dondukov-Korsakov, invited him (Gogol - note by O.A. Savina) to the Imperial St. Petersburg University. On July 24, 1834, Gogol received the position of adjunct professor in the department of general history, and in the fall of that year he began lecturing for second-year students “based on his own notes” - first on the history of the Middle Ages (4 hours a week), and then on ancient history (2 hours a week)... Gogol at that time was a very young man, “although already with a name in literature, but without any academic title, who had not proven in any way either knowledge or abilities for the department - and what department - the university ! It is not surprising, therefore, that his appointment was met with disapproval among the teaching community. “This can only be done in Russia, where patronage gives the right to everything,” noted A.V. Nikitenko, literary critic, professor of literature at St. Petersburg University, not without reason... At the end of 1835, Gogol left the university, noting letter to M.P. Pogodin that the time spent there were “years of ignominy.” None of the grandiose scientific works he conceived saw the light of day - because they were never written.” E.V. Kardash,
Ph.D., Researcher, Department of Pushkin Studies
IRLI (Pushkin House) RAS, Journal "St. Petersburg University", No. 7, April 29, 2009
20. “...Skuratov led the case against Sibneft...
The investigations were abandoned when Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov was removed from office after he appeared to fall into the standard "woman" trap. A videotape was circulated in which a middle-aged man, who looked like the attorney general, was captured in bed with two young women. The video was of low quality, and therefore it was not possible to reliably see the man’s facial features, but in terms of physique he really resembled Skuratov. Dominic Kennedy, "The Times", Great Britain, 11/12/2004, Translation: "InoSMI.Ru"
21. Praying according to Tsvetkov’s dream book brings happiness in all matters, and in general people say: “what you prayed for in a dream, you will be moved by in reality.” Indeed, marriage would give Kovalev happiness in all matters...
22. One of the aspects of Inpu was embodied in the god Upuat. The shape of Upuat was interpreted as a leader, opening the path. In the book Amduat, in the description of the first hour of the night, Upuat is placed on the bow of the boat of millions of years. For millions of years, the boat has symbolized the journey of the soul through the river of countless lives and deaths. The earthly path is a reflection of the heavenly path, the path through the Milky Way, which the Egyptians called a winding stream. One of the main principles in Ancient Egypt was the principle of change and the principle of rhythm, which, when combined, give the principle of cyclical change. And the elements of the Sectet boat, respectively the bow, hull and stern, formed a semantic unity with the phases of the cosmic cycle. At the same time, the rook itself symbolized a way to overcome this impermanence. Website "World Religions"
23. Belinsky V. G. Complete. collection soch., vol. 3. M., 1953, p. 105.
24. (Chernyshevsky 1953, p. 141)
25. Full SOBR. Op. Gogol, letter to Pogodin dated March 18, 1835.
26. Belinsky V. G. Complete. collection soch., vol. 3. M., 1953, p. 105.
27. Lermontov, SOBR. Op. in 4 volumes, volume 4, M., 1969, p. 130
28. Russian writers of the 19th century about their works. M., New School, 1995, pp. 45-59
Literature:
1. Gogol N.V. Complete. collection cit., vol. III. [M.-L.], 1938, p. 53. Further references to this publication are given in the text.
2.O.G. Dilactorskaya. Tale by N.V. Gogol’s “Nose” (everyday fact as a structural element of fiction), Vestnik Leningrad State University, 1983, issue 3
3. O.G. Dilactorskaya. Fantastic in Gogol’s story “The Nose”, Russian literature, 1984.
4. E.P. Tsvetkov “Dream Book”, Moscow, TID “Continent-Press”, 2000.
5. M.Yu. Lermontov Collected Works in 4 volumes, vol. 4, Ogonyok Library, ed. True, 1969.
6. The newest dream interpreter, telling the truth. M., 1829.
7. Rovinsky. Collection of op. in 5 volumes, vol. 1
8. Belinsky. Full SOBR. Soch., vol. 3., M., 1953.
9. Russian writers about their works.. Moscow, New School, 1995.
10. Chernyshevsky, M., 1953.
11. Bulletin of SamSU, Special. Issue, L.P. Rassovskaya “The blasphemous works of Pushkin and Gogol (“Gavriliad” and “The Nose”)
12. Dream Book of Martyn Zadeki, ed. Matyukhina Yu.A., Eksmo, 2008.
13. Literary magazine “Russian Life”, St.-Fri., 2005, article by Yuri Nechiporenko “Around Gogol”
14. K.G. Jung “Analytical Psychology”, M., 1999.
15. Journal “St. Petersburg University”, No. 7, April 29, 2009
16. Lotman Yu. M. Roman A. S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”: Commentary. L., 1983.
17. Fundamental electronic library “Russian literature and folklore”, V.V. Golovin, “SEVERAL RUSSIAN BOOKS
FROM PUSHKIN'S LIBRARY
To decipher the inventory of books not preserved in the library"
18. Smirnov Vasily. Folk fortune telling in the Kostroma region. Essay and texts, Kostroma, 1927.
19. "The Times", Great Britain, 11/12/2004, Translation: "InoSMI.Ru"

"Grotesque - the oldest artistic technique, based, like hyperbole, on exaggeration, sharpening the qualities and properties of people, objects, natural phenomena and facts of social life." However, not every exaggeration is grotesque. Here it has a special character: what is depicted is absolutely fantastic, unreal, implausible and in no case possible in real life.

Along with hyperbole, the grotesque was widely used in various myths, legends and fairy tales (for example, one can recall such a fairy-tale hero as Koschey the Immortal).

The effect of grotesque images is enhanced by the fact that they are usually shown on a par with ordinary, real events.

If we talk about the story by N.V. Gogol’s “The Nose”, here there is also a combination of an absurd story with the disappearance of a nose and the everyday reality of St. Petersburg . Gogol's image of St. Petersburg qualitatively different from those created, for example, by Pushkin or Dostoevsky. Just like for them, for Gogol it is not just a city - it is an image-symbol; but Gogol’s Petersburg is the center of some incredible power, mysterious incidents happen here; the city is full of rumors, legends, myths.

To depict St. Petersburg, Gogol uses the following technique: synecdoche- transferring the characteristics of the whole to its part. Thus, it is enough to say about a uniform, an overcoat, a mustache, sideburns - or a nose - to give a comprehensive idea of a particular person. A person in the city becomes depersonalized, loses his individuality, becomes part of the crowd

It seems that it was not without reason that Gogol made St. Petersburg the setting for the story “The Nose.” In his opinion, only here could the indicated events “happen”; only in St. Petersburg they do not see the man himself behind his rank. Gogol brought the situation to the point of absurdity - the nose turned out to be a fifth-class official, and those around him, despite the obviousness of his “inhuman” nature, behave with him as with a normal person, accordingly his status . And Kovalev himself, the owner of the runaway nose, behaves in exactly the same way.

Gogol structured his plot in such a way that this incredible event - the sudden disappearance of the nose from the face and its subsequent appearance on the street in the form of a state councilor - either does not surprise the characters at all, or surprises, but not in the way it should, according to the logic of things. For example, a respectable gray-haired official from a newspaper expedition listens to Kovalev’s request absolutely indifferently. Kvartalny, who returned Kovalev’s nose, also did not see anything strange in this situation and even, out of habit, asked him for money.

What about Kovalev? What worries him is not that without a nose, in principle, he should be deprived of the ability to breathe, and the first thing the major does is not to the doctor, but to the chief of police. He is only worried about how he will appear in society now; Throughout the story there are very often scenes when the major looks at pretty girls. Thanks to the author's short description, we know that he is now choosing a bride for himself. In addition, he has “very good acquaintances” - state councilor Chekhtareva, staff officer Pelageya Grigorievna Podtochina, who obviously provide him with useful connections. Undoubtedly, this is an exaggeration to show the reader what is real value for a St. Petersburg official.

The nose behaves as it should" significant person" in the rank of state councilor: he makes visits, prays in the Kazan Cathedral, visits the department, and plans to go to Riga using someone else’s passport. Nobody cares where he came from. Everyone sees him not only as a person, but also as important. official . It is interesting that Kovalev himself, despite his efforts to expose him, approaches him with fear in the Kazan Cathedral and generally treats him as a person.

Grotesque in the story also lies in surprise and, one might say, absurdity . From the very first line of the work we see a clear indication of the date: “March 25th” - this does not immediately imply any fantasy. And then there’s the missing nose. There was some kind of sharp deformation of everyday life, bringing it to complete unreality. The absurdity lies in the equally dramatic change in the size of the nose. If on the first pages he is discovered by the barber Ivan Yakovlevich in a pie (that is, he has a size quite corresponding to a human nose), then at the moment when Major Kovalev first sees him, the nose is dressed in a uniform, suede trousers, a hat and even has a himself a sword - which means he is the height of an ordinary man. The last appearance of the nose in the story - and it is small again. The quarterly brings it wrapped in a piece of paper. It didn’t matter to Gogol why the nose suddenly grew to human size, and it didn’t matter why it shrank again. The central point of the story is precisely the period when the nose was perceived as a normal person.

The plot of the story is conventional, the idea itself is ridiculous , but this is precisely what Gogol’s grotesque consists of and, despite this, is quite realistic. Gogol unusually expanded the boundaries of convention and showed that this convention remarkably serves the knowledge of life. If in this in an absurd society everything is determined by rank, then why can’t this fantastically absurd organization of life be reproduced in a fantastic plot? Gogol shows that it is not only possible, but also quite advisable. And thus art forms ultimately reflect life forms.

How do the features of Gogol’s “fantastic realism” appear in the story “The Nose”? - Exactly the absurdity and fantastic nature of the plot caused such abundant criticism of the writer. But it should be understood that this story has a double meaning, and Gogol’s idea is much deeper and more instructive than it seems at first glance. It is thanks to such an incredible plot that Gogol manages to draw attention to an important topic at that time - a person’s position in society, his status and the individual’s dependence on him . From the story it becomes clear that Kovalev, who for greater importance called himself a major, all his life devotes himself to his career and social status, he has no other hopes or priorities.

In Russian literature, the grotesque was widely used to create bright and unusual artistic images by N. V. Gogol ("The Nose", "Notes of a Madman"), M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin ("The History of a City", "The Wild Landowner" and other fairy tales ), F. M. Dostoevsky ("The Double. The Adventures of Mr. Golyadkin").

What does the loss of his nose mean for the hero of the story? - Kovalev is losing his nose - something that, it would seem, cannot be lost for no apparent reason - and now he cannot appear in a decent place, in secular society, at work or in any other official institution. But he cannot come to an agreement with the nose; the nose pretends that it does not understand what its owner is talking about and ignores him. With this fantastic plot, Gogol wants to emphasize the shortcomings of the society of that time, the shortcomings of thinking and consciousness of that layer of society , to which collegiate assessor Kovalev belonged.

Grotesque is an unprecedented, special world, opposing not only everyday life, but also the real, actual. Here the grotesque borders on fantasy and unrealism. It shows how absurdly the scary and the funny, the absurd and the authentic collide.

Such is the world of Gogol's story "The Nose". Is it possible in our time for the inexplicable disappearance of Major Kovalev’s nose, its flight from its rightful owner, and then its equally inexplicable return to its place? Only by using the grotesque satirical genre was Gogol able to show this ill-fated nose, which exists simultaneously as part of the face and in the form of a state councilor serving in the scientific department. What is surprising to us does not surprise the rest of the characters in the comedy. Unusual incidents make us indignant, and everyone looks at it as if it were a planned action. In the end, we understand that the grotesque can exist without fantasy. If you think about it, some officials actually walk with their noses in the air, and sometimes you think that their nose controls them. To some extent, Gogol described our society; he combined the real with the absurd, the funny with the scary.

Nikolai Gogol's story "The Nose" is one of the writer's most famous works. This absurdist story was written in 1832-1833.

Initially, the Moscow Observer magazine refused to print this work, and the author decided to publish it in the Sovremennik magazine. Gogol had to hear a lot of cruel criticism addressed to him, so the story was subjected to significant changes several times.

What is the story “The Nose” about?

The story “The Nose” consists of three parts and tells about an incredible incident that happened to the collegiate assessor Kovalev. “The Nose” begins with the fact that one morning a St. Petersburg barber discovers that there is a nose in his bread, and subsequently realizes that this nose belongs to his client, Major Kovalev. All subsequent time, the barber tries by any possible means to get rid of his nose, but it turns out that he constantly drops his unfortunate nose and everyone around him constantly points this out to him. The barber was able to get rid of it only when he threw it into the Neva.

Meanwhile, Kovalev, who has woken up, discovers that his own nose is missing, and somehow covering his face, he goes in search of it. Gogol shows us how the collegiate assessor diligently searches for his nose throughout St. Petersburg, and his feverish thoughts about how terrible it is to be in such a situation and not be able to appear before the people he knows. And when Kovalev finally meets his nose, he simply does not pay attention to him, and no requests from the major for his return to his place have any effect on the nose.

The main character tries to submit an advertisement about his missing nose to the newspaper, but the editorial office refuses him due to the fact that such a fantastic situation could harm the reputation of the newspaper. Kovalev even sends a letter to his friend Podtochina, accusing her of stealing his nose in retaliation for his refusal to marry her daughter. In the end, the police supervisor brings the nose to its owner and tells him how hard it is to catch the nose, which was about to go to Riga. After the warden leaves, the main character tries to put his nose back in place, but he fails. And then Kovalev falls into terrible despair, he realizes that life is now meaningless, since without a nose he is nothing.

Position of a person in society

It was the absurdity and fantastic nature of the plot that caused such abundant criticism of the writer. But it should be understood that this story has a double meaning, and Gogol’s idea is much deeper and more instructive than it seems at first glance. It is thanks to such an incredible plot that Gogol manages to draw attention to an important topic at that time - the position of a person in society, his status and the dependence of the individual on him. From the story it becomes clear that the collegiate assessor Kovalev, who for greater importance called himself a major, devotes his entire life to his career and social status, he has no other hopes and priorities.

Kovalev is losing his nose - something that, it would seem, cannot be lost for no apparent reason - and now he cannot appear in a decent place, in secular society, at work or in any other official institution. But he cannot come to an agreement with the nose; the nose pretends that it does not understand what its owner is talking about and ignores him. With this fantastic plot, Gogol wants to emphasize the shortcomings of the society of that time, the shortcomings of thinking and consciousness of that layer of society to which the collegiate assessor Kovalev belonged.