The Nose: Four Corners Familiars

The Nose, one of Nikolai Gogol’s most important and influential tales, is now available in this gorgeously produced volume, illustrated with photographs by British artist Rick Buckley. Taking on a life of its own, the nose of a St Petersburg official leaves its rightful place to cause havoc in the city. The novel ends with the author seemingly addressing the reader directly, refusing to resolve the story he has narrated. Written between 1835 and 1836, and a key precursor to absurdist and Magical Realist strains in 20th-century fiction, this fantastic tale is extended in Buckley’s photographs, which document a Gogol-inspired street intervention for which he fixed plaster noses on to buildings all over London. This edition of The Nose is part of the Four Corners Familiars series, in which contemporary artists produce a new edition of a classic novel or short story.