When the train crashes later in the trip, Ashoke miraculously survives, and the Gogol story becomes a totem in his life, a symbolic tie to his homeland and an omen of good luck.

Partly inspired by the Gogol short story, it was a scathing criticism of outdated Chinese traditions and feudalism which was metaphorically 'gnawing' at the Chinese like cannibalism.

Earlier, the Maryinsky offered its version of "The Nose," based on a Gogol short story, which Shostakovich wrote when he was 23.

David Holman, with Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush, adapted the Gogol short story from 1853, about a lowly civil servant who starts to believe he is royalty.

"If you do not do it as a package deal, they will never do it," said Mr. Gaissmayer, who watched with mounting exasperation as his news conference began to resemble a Gogol short story.

(As Vladimir Nabokov wrote - about a different Gogol story - "the real plot lies in the style, in the inner structure of this transcendent anecdote.")

This year's program includes "May Night," an early, little-known, folkloric piece by Rimsky-Korsakov, based on a Gogol story.

At BAM, they're together again, with "The Diary of a Madman," an adaptation of a Gogol story from 1853, about a lowly civil servant who starts to believe he is royalty.

Gogol's The Nose (based on the Gogol short story of the same name)

Raro Video has released "Il Cappotto," Alberto Lattuada's adaptation of the Gogol short story "The Overcoat," on DVD.