Sardinian Silver by A. Colin Wright

See www.sardiniansilver.com, www.acolinwright.ca

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Paperback

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Paperback

In Gogol's "The Nose" a barber seems to have shaved off the nose of one of his clients. The nose has taken on a life of its own, walking around St. Petersburg--but it is now a man of high rank so its owner doesn't dare address it. Eventually, however, he finds that the nose has just been restored to its proper place on his face.

A totally absurd story dealing with all the oddities that can take place arbitrarily in life. (I used to teach a class on this.) Gogol concludes that events such as this can really happen, if only rarely.

I have a personal example of this:

A true story told to me by a doctor friend, who for a time worked for the first-aid service in St. Petersburg, driving around the streets at night and mainly sorting out injuries caused in fights by drunks. On one occasion a man had actually bitten off another man's nose, and it was then a matter of finding it so it could be reattached. My friend and her colleagues were going around everywhere, trying to find it. People would come up and ask her "What are you looking for?" and when she said "a nose," they all (knowing Gogol's famous story) would burst into laughter. Eventually it was found in a stone garbage container and was sewn back to its owner's face.