The Nose

Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 54K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Nenä by Nikolai Vasilevich GogolAuthor: Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852,Language: Finnish, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Jul 4, 2016

Editor's review

Nenä (The Nose) is a Finnish translation of Gogol's novella of the same name, available from Project Gutenberg. The original is a classic of absurd satire in Russian literature: an official's nose mysteriously disappears and then parades through the city with an even higher rank. Through its exaggerated plot, the story satirizes bureaucratic hierarchy, vanity, and status worship; it is short yet richly layered, an ideal introduction to Gogol's satirical art and the grotesque side of Russian realism. The value of this edition lies in offering a public-domain Finnish translation, making this famous work accessible to Finnish readers and comparative literature scholars. When reading, note the contrast between the narrator's deadpan tone and the absurd events—that is the source of the satirical power. Since this is a Finnish translation, Chinese readers who cannot read Finnish will find it more suitable as material for edition studies or translation comparison than for direct reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Language learners of Finnish who want to engage with literary classics
Comparative literature readers studying translations of Gogol's works and translation strategies
Readers interested in Russian satirical literature and absurdist narrative
Researchers needing public-domain foreign-language texts for edition studies

Not a good fit for

General readers who can read only Chinese and do not know Finnish
Readers expecting a full-length novel plot
Readers not interested in absurdist satire

Reading tips

First learn the plot summary of the original "The Nose," then compare it with the Finnish translation to see how the translator handles it
Note shifts in the narrator's tone while reading, and feel the tension between the straight-faced voice and the absurd events
Compare with the Russian original or a Chinese translation to observe how cultural terms such as official ranks are rendered
The text is short; read it in one sitting, then revisit the opening to reconsider the satirical setup

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Finnish or Russian?

This is a Finnish translation of Gogol's "The Nose," and its language is Finnish. The original was written in Russian; this edition is a public-domain translation provided by Project Gutenberg, suitable for Finnish readers or translation researchers.

Can I read this book without knowing Finnish?

Without Finnish it is very hard to read the text directly. If you are simply interested in Gogol's "The Nose," choose a Chinese or Russian translation; this book is better suited as Finnish learning material or as an object of translation-comparison research.

What is "The Nose" about?

The original tells the story of an official whose nose mysteriously disappears and then appears in the city under a higher civil-service rank, using absurd plot to satirize bureaucratic hierarchy and vanity. This translation retains that core plot, but the exact wording of the translation should be checked against the Finnish text.

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About the author

Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852 Author

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809–1852) was a Russian writer, born in what is now Ukraine, known for his fiction and drama. The collection here holds 24 of his works, including the novel Dead Souls, the comedy The Inspector-General, and shorter works such as The Mantle, Viitta, and The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich. His writing often uses satire to portray bureaucratic habits and the fate of ordinary little people, shifting between the grotesque and the realistic. He is regarded as one of the founders of Russian realist literature and has had a lasting influence on later fiction and drama. Some details of his life are limited in public sources, so this note focuses on his themes and style.