SOURCE: Bocharov, Sergei. “Around ‘The Nose.’” In Essays on Gogol: Logos and the Russian Word, edited by Susanne Fusso and Priscilla Meyer, pp. 19–39. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1992.

In the following essay, Bocharov considers Gogol's concern with noses as a recurring motif in his fiction, particularly in the short story “The Nose.”

Skryeshi ikh v taine litsa Tvoego ot miatezha chelovecheska.

—Ps. 30:21

In the covert of thy presence [litso, “face”] thou hidest them from the plots of men.

—Ps. 31:20

These Remarks are a continuation of my attempt to connect the famous enigma of “The Nose” with Gogol's philosophy of humanity, an attempt begun in my article “Zagadka ‘Nosa’ i taina litsa” (“The Enigma of ‘The Nose’ and the Mystery of the Face”).¹ That article had two initial premises. The first was that careful attention must be paid to the very character of the story's strange subject, the very...