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"White Nights" is the first novel I read by Dostoevsky. I
read it in less than a day. I really liked it. It is a simple novel with a deep
meaning. Maybe it is not one of the most famous works for him. But it is known
as any of his works.
About The Author
Dostoevsky (11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881)
was a journalist, essayist, novelist, and short story writer from Russia.
Since many of his works are regarded as profoundly important masterpieces, many
literary experts believe him to be one of the greatest authors in all of world
literature.
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White Nights
Dostoevsky
82 pages which may be less or more according to the publisher. This
book was first published on January 1, 1848.
Genres: Classics, Fiction, Russian Literature, Russia, Short Stories,
Romance, Literature.
And it has 102,061 ratings on good reads with a total of 4.01 stars.
Love, loneliness, and the influence of dreams are among the themes
explored in the narrative. A young man who lives in his own imaginary world,
the narrator feels lonely and secluded.
Nastenka, a young woman, appeals to him because she understands his
love of fantasies and his desire for connection. However, because Nastenka is
already in love with another man, their relationship is doomed from the
beginning.
White Nights
Dostoevsky summary
A young man in Saint Petersburg falls in love with a young woman who
is already in love with someone else. The two of them spend four nights
together, talking and dreaming. The young man knows that the woman does not
love him back, but he is content to simply be her friend. On the fourth night,
the woman leaves Saint Petersburg to be with her grandmother. The young man is
heartbroken, but he knows that he will never forget her.
The narrator is ultimately left alone, yet he still has hope. He
understands that despite the fact that his love for Nastenka is unrequited, he
has nonetheless discovered something priceless in their brief meeting. He has
discovered that, despite his loneliness, he can still find love and a
connection.
White Nights
Dostoevsky Analysis
The short novel "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky seems
to have an altruistic view of love; it sounds like Dostoyevsky made a conscious
effort to highlight this kind of altruistic love in the story. The idea of
love, as it appears in White Nights, has thus been explored.
The two parts of this essay are as follows; the first part presents a
theoretical framework with definitions of love and its various forms; the
second half gives an account of how love manifests itself in the story.
Finally, this essay demonstrates how selfless love is shown in this tale,
praised, and preferable to other sorts of love.
one of my favorite reviews on good reads was so simple but really
meaningful. it was in Arabic, so I translated it:
“Describing this novel as a dreamy romantic novel bore me; This is not
a novel about love, this is a novel about loneliness”.
White Nights
Dostoevsky Quotes
Here are some of the quotes I like:
“I don’t know how to be silent when my heart is speaking.”
“May your sky always be clear, may your dear smile always be bright and happy, and may you be forever blessed for that moment of bliss and happiness which you gave to another lonely and grateful heart. Isn't such a moment sufficient for the whole of one's life?”
“Here my tears are falling, Nastenka. Let them flow, let them flow - they don't hurt anybody. They will dry Nastenka.”
And my favorite of them:
“And what shall I have to dream of when I have been so happy in reality beside you!”
Finally, do not forget to read other Dostoevsky books such as Crime
and Punishment (1866), The Brothers Karamazov (1879), The Idiot (1868) ….and
more. He has a very distinguished style of writing.
This novel has been adapted into several films, The films vary in
their interpretation of the story, but they all capture the dreamlike quality
of the original short story.
Written by: Heba Salah
Edited by: Soumi Chatterjee
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