What is the meaning of the piece nose. Real and fantastic in Gogol's story "The Nose"

The work of Nikolai Gogol occupies a significant place in Russian literature of the nineteenth century. His works provide valuable evidence of the life of the inhabitants of the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, and also show in which direction the Russian intelligentsia of that time thought. One of these works is his satirical story “The Nose”, in which the writer depicted life in St. Petersburg as he saw it. The many-wise Litrekon offers you an analysis of this work.

The history of writing the story “The Nose” presents some very interesting facts:

1. The idea for the story “The Nose” came to the writer after his long stay in St. Petersburg in the thirties. Having arrived from the distant Poltava province, Gogol was very disappointed in the capital's life with its fussiness and indifference of people to each other. These impressions, combined with Gogol’s failure as an actor, forever formed his opinion of St. Petersburg as an evil and cruel city.
2. It was under the influence of these experiences that the story “The Nose” was created in 1935. A.S. himself helped Gogol in publishing the work. Pushkin, and in 1936 it was published in the Sovremennik magazine.
3. The Moscow Observer magazine officially rejected Gogol's manuscript. The editors called the story “bad, vulgar and trivial.”
4. The story was received not only from the editors, but also from the censorship. Some scenes were rewritten under the strict control of the inspection organization. So, the Nose and its owner were supposed to meet not in the Kazan Cathedral, as in the original, but in Gostiny Dvor.
5. Initially, the author explained the fantastic events from the book by saying that the hero had a terrible dream, but then he decided to abandon the explanation.

Direction and genre

The story of the nose belongs to the literary movement. Although the author allows himself a fantastic assumption, his work is intended primarily to reflect everyday reality. Images, characters, their words and actions are close to reality. The reader can believe that Gogol's heroes could actually exist.

The genre of the work “The Nose” can be defined as a story. The narrative covers a short period of time and includes a small number of characters. However, the plot is replete with a huge number of details and details; there are names of real places. All this immerses the reader deeper into the atmosphere of the work, strengthening his faith in the events described.

The many-wise Litrekon described the real and fantastic in the story “The Nose” in table format:

The essence: what is the work about?

The story begins with how the barber Ivan Yakovlevich finds the nose of his friend and client, the collegiate assessor Kovalev, in a loaf of bread. Horrified and wanting to avoid problems, Ivan throws his find into the Neva.

On the same day, Kovalev is discovered missing. Going out into the street, he suddenly stumbles upon his own nose, which has taken on a life of its own, put on the uniform of a state councilor and calmly drives around St. Petersburg. The nose clearly does not want to return to its place and at the first opportunity hides from Kovalev.

The hero rushes to the newspaper editorial office to submit an application, but the official refuses to help, not wanting to drag the newspaper into a scandal and harm its reputation. The private bailiff, who, being out of sorts, did not even listen to him, was also completely indifferent to Kovalev’s problem.

In despair, Kovalev returns home, considering his life over. Salvation comes in the form of a police officer, who returns the hero’s nose, who tried to leave for Riga with a fake passport.

However, the nose resolutely refuses to return to its place. The situation cannot be corrected even by the intervention of a doctor, who, as it turns out, never helps anyone, but only takes money for an appointment.

Kovalev suspects that Alexandra Podtochena is to blame for all his misadventures, who thus wants to marry him to her daughter, but these suspicions are not confirmed.

Kovalev and his nose find themselves under the close attention of all the gossips and onlookers in the city. After some time, the nose, fortunately for the hero, grows back to his face, and Kovalev’s life returns to normal.

The main characters and their characteristics

The system of images in the story “The Nose” separated from the book and ran into the table of the Many-Wise Litrekon:

Themes

The theme of Gogol's story "The Nose" is also very capricious and prefers to roam freely on this page. If she has annoyed you, complain about her to the Many-Wise Litrekon in the comments:

• City– St. Petersburg in the story is presented as a bustling and restless place, where something is constantly happening, and people are constantly in a hurry and do not notice anything around them, completely obeying the regulations and rules, no matter how absurd they may be. They have no time to think, they serve. So the main character came for a promotion, but found only indifference, coldness and cynicism.
• Small man. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Kovalev experiences the bitterness and pressure of the powerful capital and realizes his complete helplessness. The hero resigns himself to fate, since the rank of his nose does not allow him to overcome his timidity and return him to his place. The character's weakness and indecisiveness put him on a par with little people.
• Real and fantastic– in the story there is one big fantastic assumption in the form of a nose endowed with all human features. The author also showed the absurd reaction of others to the revived and separated part of the body. Otherwise, Gogol strives to portray the surrounding reality as it is.
• Life and customs of the Russian Empire at that time- the writer depicted bureaucracy, indifference, pettiness, veneration and philistinism, which he saw himself, having lived for a long time in St. Petersburg.
• Career and its impact on personality– Gogol describes Russian officials with obvious hostility. In his opinion, the career of an official gradually devastates a person. Makes him petty and pathetic, turns him from a full-fledged personality into a small cog in a huge state machine. So, none of the heroes in office understands Kovalev’s problem, everyone simply carries out a series of formalities and creates the appearance of work.

Problems

The problems of the story “The Nose” are well known to every modern resident of Russia:

1. Reverence- using the example of Kovalev himself, who was embarrassed in front of his own nose only because he was dressed in the uniform of a state councilor, Gogol showed to what extremes the veneration of rank had reached in the Russian Empire. The uniform acquires such power that it misleads not only Plato, but everyone around him. In a uniform, even the nose becomes a significant and respected face.
2. Drunkenness– using the example of Yakovlev, the writer shows that drunkenness is characteristic of degenerate people and always goes side by side with cowardice and sloppiness.
3. Servility– the residents of St. Petersburg in Gogol’s story are shown as suppressed individuals, unconditionally obeying orders and blindly obeying their superiors, only because of their status, and not their own beliefs.
4. Ignorance– the author shows people living with the lowest needs, not thinking about anything lofty, unable to look beyond the boundaries set for them by society and the state.
5. Inner emptiness– the inner world of all the characters in the story is empty and wretched. They have long been mired in selfishness and laziness. All they care about is a stable income and inner peace, and nothing can dispel this desire, not even the suffering of other people, to whom the heroes are absolutely indifferent.
6. Bureaucracy– the image of a Russian bureaucrat is a frequent guest in Gogol’s works. "Nose" is no exception. The writer shows us officials who do not strive to help people and rule the country, which is their duty, but to build their own carefree life and not do anything that could harm themselves. Gogol’s bureaucracy has taken over people’s lives so much that Kovalev’s nose is exposed not by obvious external signs, but by a fake passport.
7. vulgarity– in the souls of St. Petersburg residents depicted by Gogol there is no place for sincere affection and love. They are obsessed with cold calculation and a blind desire to satisfy their base needs.

Meaning

Gogol showed us the typical inhabitants of his time. Average officials, shopkeepers, newspapermen and other philistines represent a real kaleidoscope of rudeness, vulgarity, greed and spiritual weakness, which the writer mercilessly branded for most of his life. This is the main idea of ​​the story “The Nose” - a condemnation of the real vices of society through the grotesque and fantastic assumption.

According to Gogol, the capital concentrated in itself the worst features of Russian reality, which have now become so everyday and ordinary that it is simply impossible to imagine the life of Russia without them. Gogol's main idea in the story "The Nose" is a demonstration that people have become hostages of formalism and bureaucracy, and now every creature is assessed only by its uniform, and not by its essence.

What does it teach?

The author of the story “The Nose” condemns rudeness, vulgarity, corruption, indifference and pettiness and makes us think about how blind we are in the pursuit of material values ​​and profitable acquaintances. Gives us a vivid example of an unhealthy society and how not to live.

The story “The Nose” has a clear moral - it teaches us to think more broadly, to look at the world with our own eyes, and not to blindly obey someone’s instructions. The conclusion from the book can be drawn as follows: you need to live not only with your body, but also with your soul.

Artistic originality

Nikolai Gogol loved to use various tropes and means of expression in his work:

1. Grotesque: the independence of Nose in relation to the owner and the timidity of Kovalev, who cannot return part of the body due to the difference in rank;
2. Hyperbole and personification: The nose not only takes on human features, but also intends to cross the border and produces a fake passport. The author not only “humanized” him, but also endowed him with an original and adventurous character.
3. Irony: "Doctor<…>had beautiful resinous sideburns, a fresh, healthy doctor.” So the author put both the external features of the doctor’s face and his wife on the same level, hinting at the insignificance of a woman who is only attached to her husband like sideburns.

Criticism

The intelligentsia of that time reacted very keenly to Gogol's creation. A.S. himself Pushkin helped publish the book in Sovremennik, calling it incredibly original, funny and unexpected.

The story did not pass by Vissarion Belinsky, who saw in it an extremely relevant social commentary, condemning the inertia and bureaucracy of Russian society. He was also supported by S.G. Bocharov, who argued that the author forced people to face the truth. V.V. Nabokov considered “The Nose” one of Gogol’s most successful creations.

However, not everyone shared this enthusiasm. For example, N.G. Chernyshevsky called the story an old “anecdote,” and believed that Gogol did not come up with anything new, but simply retold the old.

“The Nose” is often called the most mysterious story by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. It was written in 1833 for the Moscow Observer magazine, which was edited by the writer’s friends. But the editors did not accept the work, calling it dirty and vulgar. This is the first mystery: why did Gogol’s friends refuse to publish it? What dirt and vulgarity did they see in this fantastic plot? In 1836, Alexander Pushkin persuaded Gogol to publish “The Nose” in Sovremennik. To do this, the author reworked the text, changing the ending and strengthening the satirical focus.

In the preface to the publication, Pushkin called the story cheerful, original and fantastic, emphasizing that it gave him pleasure. The exact opposite review from Alexander Sergeevich is another mystery. After all, Gogol did not radically change the work; the second version was not fundamentally different from the first.

Many incomprehensible moments can be found in the fantastic plot of the story. There are no clearly defined motives for the runaway nose; the role of the barber in this story looks strange: why exactly did he show up with a runaway nose, and even in the bread? In the story, the image of evil is blurred, the driving motive of many actions is hidden, there is no obvious reason for punishing Kovalev. The story also ends with a question: why did the nose return to its place without any explanation?

The work clearly spells out some minor details that do not affect the development of events, and the more significant facts, characters and settings are depicted very schematically. Such a “failure” could be forgiven for a novice author, but Gogol was already a mature writer at the time of writing the story. Therefore, details are important, but what is their significance then? These mysteries have given rise to many different versions among critics.

Most experts rightly classify the work as a satire on modern society, where a person is judged not by personal qualities, but by rank. Let us remember how timidly Kovalev talks to his own nose. After all, he is dressed in a uniform, which shows that in front of the major is an official of a higher rank.

The image of the quarterly overseer is interesting. He noticed from afar that the barber had thrown something into the water, but he only saw the missing part of the body when he put on his glasses. Of course, because the nose was in a shiny uniform and with a sword, and at the sight of gentlemen, the police are always short-sighted. That's why the barber was arrested; someone has to answer for the incident. Poor drunkard Ivan Yakovlevich was ideal for the role of “switchman”.

The main character of the work, Major Kovalev, is typical. This is a provincial without education who received his rank in the Caucasus. This detail says a lot. Kovalev is smart, energetic, brave, otherwise he would not have earned his place on the front line. He is ambitious, prefers to be called by the military rank of “major” rather than by the civilian rank of “collegiate assessor.” Kovalev aims to become a vice-governor and dreams of a profitable marriage: “in such a case, when the bride gets two hundred thousand in capital.” But now Kovalev is suffering greatly because he cannot hit on the ladies.

All the major’s dreams crumble to dust after the disappearance of his nose, because along with it his face and reputation are lost. At this time, the nose rises up the career ladder above the owner, for which he is obsequiously accepted in society.

The barber wearing a tailcoat is comical. His untidiness (smelly hands, torn buttons, stains on clothes, unshavenness) contrasts with a profession designed to make people cleaner and neater. The gallery of humorous characters is completed by a doctor who performs diagnostics with clicks.

However, the genre of satirical phantasmagoria only partially reveals the secrets of the story. Critics have long noticed that the work is a kind of code, perfectly understandable to Gogol’s contemporaries and completely incomprehensible to us. There are several versions about this. One of them: Gogol in a veiled form depicted a certain scandalous incident that was well known in his society. This fact explains the refusal of the first publication (the scandal was still fresh), the favor of the famous lover of shocking Pushkin and the negative assessment of critics.

Some researchers find parallels in the story with well-known popular print stories. In the 30s of the 19th century, lubok was considered a “low” genre, especially despised in secular society. Gogol's closeness to folk traditions could well have led the writer to such a unique experiment. There are also more exotic versions: the struggle with the author’s own complexes about his appearance, deciphering a popular dream book, etc.

But we have not yet received a clear and correct interpretation of the story “The Nose”. “In all this, really, there is something,” Gogol slyly declared at the end of the work.

Everyone knows that the brilliant Ukrainian and Russian writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol won the respect of readers thanks to his subtle humor and observation, as well as the fantastic and incredible plots that he so skillfully created in his works. We will now analyze the story “The Nose,” which undoubtedly belongs precisely to such masterpieces of the writer. But before we move directly to the analysis of the story, let's look very briefly at the plot.

The plot of the story "The Nose" is very brief

This work contains three parts that tell the story of the incredible thing that happened to a certain collegiate assessor Kovalev. But the story should begin with a description of the meal of the city St. Petersburg barber Ivan Yakovlevich. One day, taking a loaf of bread, he sees that there is a nose in it. Later it becomes known that this is the nose of a very respected person. The barber gets rid of this nose by throwing it off the bridge. At the same time, in the morning Kovalev notices that his nose is not in place, and, going out into the street, covers himself with a scarf. Suddenly, that same nose, already dressed in a uniform, catches Kovalev’s eye. He travels around St. Petersburg and even goes into the cathedral to pray.

A very brief presentation of the plot of the story "The Nose", the analysis of which we are conducting, will help to more accurately give the necessary characteristics to the characters. Kovalev continues his search and makes efforts to catch the nose. To do this, he goes to the police and even asks to print an ad in the newspaper, but is refused - this is too unusual a matter. And scandalous. Kovalev begins to suspect who could have arranged such an opportunity, and decides that this is the work of headquarters officer Podtochina. Most likely, she is taking revenge on Kovalev for refusing to marry her daughter. The official takes a pen to write to her everything he thinks about Podtochina, but upon receiving the letter, she is perplexed.

Very soon, rumors about this whole story spread throughout the city, and one policeman manages to catch the nose and deliver it to the owner. True, the nose just doesn’t want to go back into place, and even the doctor can’t help. About two weeks pass - Kovalev wakes up and realizes that his nose is back in place.

Analysis of the story "The Nose"

Of course, in terms of its literary genre, this story is fantastic. It is clear that Gogol wants to show a person who lives in hustle and bustle, spends empty and meaningless days, while he cannot look beyond his nose. He is immersed in routine and everyday hassles, but they are not really worth it. And the only thing that helps such a person find peace is that he feels himself again in a familiar environment. What else can you say when analyzing the story "The Nose"?

What is this work about? We can say with complete confidence that this story is about an official whose pride does not allow him to look at those of lower rank. He is indifferent to ordinary people. Such a personality can be compared to a severed smelling organ dressed in a uniform. He cannot be persuaded or asked for anything, he simply does his usual thing.

Gogol came up with an original fantasy storyline and created wonderful characters to encourage the reader to think about those in power. The author describes in vivid language the life of an official and his eternal, but meaningless worries. Is it really only his nose that such a person should care about? Who will deal with the problems of the common people, over whom the official is placed?

An analysis of Gogol's story "The Nose" reveals hidden ridicule, with the help of which the author draws attention to a large and pressing problem of certain sections of society. On our website you can read

Written in the same year as “The Inspector General,” Gogol’s “joke,” which is exactly what A. S. Pushkin called the story “The Nose” when publishing it in Sovremennik, turned out to be a real mystery for researchers. And no matter how one of the most famous critics of the 19th century, Apollo Grigoriev, urged to abandon its interpretation, the researchers were unable to ignore this “temptation”.

Everything in the story requires interpretation, and above all, the plot, which is very simple and fantastic at the same time. The main character of the story, Major Kovalev, woke up one morning, did not find his nose and, in a wild panic, rushed to look for it. As events unfolded, a lot of unpleasant and even “undignified” things happened to the hero, but after 2 weeks his nose, as if nothing had happened, again found itself “between Major Kovalev’s two cheeks.” An absolutely incredible event, as incredible as the fact that the nose turned out to have a higher rank than the hero himself. In general, in the story the author piles up absurdity after absurdity, but at the same time he himself constantly insists that this is “an unusually strange incident,” “complete nonsense,” “there is no credibility at all.” Gogol seems to insist: in St. Petersburg, where the events are unfolding, everything is implausible! And the fantasy technique that the writer resorts to in this story is designed to help the reader penetrate into the essence of the most ordinary things.

Why are events developing in such a strange way? Here Major Kovalev, following his own nose and trying to return it to its place, suddenly reveals his powerlessness, and all because the nose “was in a uniform embroidered with gold... was considered to be in the rank of state councilor.” It turns out that the nose is three (!) ranks older than Major Kovalev, so his owner can’t do anything with him. In a city where the uniform and rank have replaced the person, this is completely normal and natural. If the residents of St. Petersburg have no faces (remember the “Overcoat”), but only ranks and uniforms, then why shouldn’t the nose really make visits, serve in the academic department, and pray in the Kazan Cathedral. And the absurdity, the absurdity of the current situation - the writer emphasizes this - is not that the nose wears a uniform or rides in a carriage, and not even that it has become invulnerable to the owner, but that the rank has become more important than the person. There is no man in this world at all, he has disappeared, disappeared into the hierarchy of ranks.

It is interesting that the heroes are not at all surprised by the current situation; they are accustomed to measuring everything by the framework of rank and do not react to anything other than rank. In a world where rank rules the roost, anything can happen. You can publish advertisements for the sale of a stroller and the sale of a coachman, a nineteen-year-old girl and a durable droshky without one spring. You can live in a city where sideburns and mustaches are common (Gogol depicts them in the story “Nevsky Prospekt”). And the author, whipping up such absurdities, trying to present the story as “really true,” seems to be trying to prove: in this world, the disappearance of a nose from the face of its owner is no more fantastic than, for example, an announcement about a black-haired poodle who turned out to be the treasurer of some establishment . Thus, in “The Nose” what was in life itself, what was its essence, was brought to the point of absurdity.

The legacy of the brilliant Ukrainian and Russian writer N.V. Gogol contains many works that deserve the attention of a demanding reader. A feature of his work is subtle humor and observation, a penchant for mysticism and simply incredible, fantastic plots. This is exactly what the story “The Nose” (Gogol) is, which we will analyze below.

Plot of the story (briefly)

The analysis of the story should begin with a summary of the story. Gogol's "Nose" consists of three parts, which tell about incredible incidents in the life of a certain collegiate assessor Kovalev.

So, one day, the city barber of St. Petersburg, Ivan Yakovlevich, finds a nose in a loaf of bread, which, as it later turns out, belongs to a very respected person. The barber is trying to get rid of his find, which he does with great difficulty. At this time, the collegiate assessor wakes up and discovers the loss. Shocked and upset, he goes outside, covering his face with a handkerchief. And suddenly he meets his part of the body, which is dressed up in a uniform, driving around the city, praying in the cathedral, and so on. The nose does not respond to requests to return to its place.

N.V. Gogol’s story “The Nose” further tells that Kovalev is trying to find the loss. He goes to the police, wants to advertise in the newspaper, but is refused due to the unusual nature of such a case. Exhausted, Kovalev goes home and thinks about who could be behind such a cruel joke. Deciding that this is the headquarters officer Podtochin - because he refused to marry her daughter, the assessor writes her an accusatory letter. But the woman is at a loss.

The city is quickly filled with rumors of an incredible incident. One policeman even catches the nose and brings it to the owner, but fails to put him in his place. The doctor also doesn’t know how to make the fallen organ stay on. But after about two weeks, Kovalev wakes up and finds his nose in its rightful place. The barber, who came to do his usual work, no longer held on to this part of the body. This is where the story ends.

Characteristics and analysis. "The Nose" by Gogol

If you look at the genre of the work, “The Nose” is a fantastic story. It can be argued that the author is telling us that a person fusses for no reason, lives in vain and does not see beyond his nose. He is overwhelmed by everyday worries that are not worth a penny. He calms down, feeling familiar surroundings.

What conclusion does detailed analysis lead to? Gogol's "Nose" is a story about a man who is too proud, who does not care about people of lower rank. Like a severed smelling organ in a uniform, such a person does not understand speeches addressed to him and continues to do his job, no matter what it is.

The meaning of a fantasy story

Using a fantastic plot, original images and completely atypical “heroes”, the great writer reflects on power. He talks vividly and topically about the lives of officials and their eternal concerns. But should such people take care of their nose? Shouldn't they be solving the real problems of the ordinary people they supervise? This is a hidden mockery that draws attention to the big problem of Gogol’s contemporary society. This was the analysis. “The Nose” by Gogol is a work that is worth reading at your leisure.