The Nose

Interesting Facts

• The novella is one of the most vivid examples of Gogol's grotesque and absurd style.
• The main character, Major Kovalyov, wakes up one morning to find that his nose has disappeared.
• Kovalyov's nose begins to live its own life and even achieves a higher social status than Kovalyov himself.
• The novella mocks the bureaucracy and social norms of 19th-century Russian Empire.
• The story ends with the nose mysteriously returning to Kovalyov's face, but no explanation is given for this phenomenon.
• Gogol uses the fantastical element of the nose's disappearance to highlight the absurdity and ridiculousness of human existence.