The Nose: Encyclopedia II - The Nose - Plot

The Nose - Plot

The story is in three parts:

The Nose - Part one

On the 25th of March, a particular barber, Ivan Yakovlevich, finds a nose in his bread which he recognises as that of one of his regular customers, Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov (known as 'Major Kovalyov'). He tries to get rid of it by throwing it in the Neva river, but he is caught by a policeman.

The Nose - Part two

Meanwhile Kovalyov wakes and finds his nose missing. He finds and confronts it in the Kazan Cathedral, but it has acquired a higher rank than him and refuses to return to his face. Kovalyov visits the newspaper office to place an advert about the loss of his nose, but is refused. He returns to his flat, where the policeman who caught Ivan finds him and returns the nose (which he caught at a coach station, trying to flee the city). Kovalyov's joy is cut short when he finds that he is unable to re-attach the nose, even with the help of the doctor. He suspects that he has been enchanted by a woman called Podtochina, because he would not marry her daughter. He writes to ask her to undo the spell, but she misinterprets the letter as a proposal to her daughter. Her reply convinces him that she is innocent. In the city, rumours of the nose's activities have spread, and crowds gather in search of it.

The Nose - Part three

On the 7th of April, Kovalyov wakes up with his nose reattached. He is carefully shaved by the barber and happily promenades about the city to show off his nose.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki