Reading broadens one’s horizons. Growing up, I haven’t always had the chance to indulge in luxury, nor did I have many friends to hang out with. Most of the time, I found myself peacefully curled up in a book, savouring the smooth melody of each tale I perused, prancing in such exhilaration and fervour internally as another twist teleported me to cloud nine. My heart races, my palms sweat dramatically, as everything builds up to the inevitable climax, then…the story ends. Off to another book.
As I grow older and earn my own living, I inevitably spend more time in bookshops. Interestingly, with the growing popularity of calls to ‘decolonise one’s bookshelf’, one day, I looked around my personal collection and was quite astounded by the fact that most of my English books were written by a single demographic. It also made me wonder- what if, without investing so much time and effort, I read books written in other languages by non-Anglophone writers? Would I gain more in the process?
Resounding affirmation smacks me in the face as I learn of the great Ukrainian/Russian author Nikolai Gogol from my friends from Ukraine (I am forever grateful to you, Alex and Helen!). This is, truth be told, my first foray into Russian literature. Never have I ever attempted to educate myself on Eastern European literature. My ignorance is unpardonable, but can be attributed to my gross ineptitude in face of the Cyrillic alphabet.
Nikolai Gogol is a prominent figure in Russian literature, whose literary fame traverses other linguistic spheres in the world. He sits (metaphorically, of course) majestically on the same level as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. I was honoured with the opportunity to peruse ‘The Nose’, a short story he composed during the first half of the 19th century. I would say that, as an avid reader of English and American fiction, at first, I was quite taken aback by Gogol’s seemingly obsessive emphasis on mundane daily events. His prose teemed with references to, inter alia, the details of one’s breakfast, and the arduous process of shaving. Yet, I was later struck by the realisation that this presumed superficiality was in fact a stroke of genius. In ‘The Nose’, a ‘major’/collegiate assessor lost his nose. This spurned a series of unfortunate events, both to the people he consulted, and the barber who was suspect (since the nose disappeared after the major/collegiate assessor went to him for a shave). To the reader who likes concrete reality, apart from the absurdities arising from ‘the nose incident’, this story seems to be mainly a description of what anyone would do in such an emergency. However, to those who like cheekily reading between the lines (myself included), what if this short story has illustrated the superficiality of human society in its most apparent form, warts and all? What if it has proffered us a clear view of the human avarice and perpetuating, excessively archaic views on women and bribery? Utilising a realistic approach, not unlike Charles Dickens in the UK and Mo Yan in China (again, massive thanks to Christy for the recommendation!), Gogol prompts us to reflect serious societal issues without force-feeding his readers with long descriptive tracts of his own opinion – after all, none of us likes being preached to, let alone having our thoughts dictated by an author whose book we bought with our own money.
A stroke of genius, as always. I cannot wait to read the next one.
Afterword: I actually bought Dead Souls by Gogol. It presents itself as a book an avid reader can easily latch onto.
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