“My God, my God. What have I done to deserve this? If I’d lost an arm or a leg it wouldn’t be so bad. Even without ears things wouldn’t be pleasant, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. A man without a nose, though, is God knows what, neither fish nor fowl. Just something to be thrown out of the window. If my nose had been lopped off during the war, a duel, at least I might have had some say in the matter. But to lose it for no reason at all and with nothing to show for it, not even a copeck. No, it’s absolutely impossible…it couldn’t have gone just like that! Never. Must have been a dream, or perhaps I drank some of that vodka I use for rubbing down my beard after shaving instead of water….”
Nikolai Gogol, “The Nose”, 1836.
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