I just finished White Nights by Dostoevsky, and I didn’t like it at all. I say that as someone who generally likes flowery, romantic monologues where the speaker waxes poetic. I saw so much hype about this everywhere online and my college roommate loved Dostoevsky. She was also a “dreamer.”
But the dreamer didn’t feel like a dreamer. He felt like an incel. His loneliness seemed of his own volition. He spoke as though he lived in a quiet part of St. Petersburg (I’ve already forgotten the beginning part, it was so unmemorable) and chose to wander the streets at night because he wanted solitude and because he felt so lonely during the day. The only way to escape loneliness is to find others or to become comfortable in being alone. I had no sympathy for his loneliness.
Then he meets Nastenka and fancies himself a “dreamer” or a “hero”. I love the quote from Toni Morrison “the subject of the dream is the dreamer.” He’s a dreamer because he wants to be desired, loved, valued. That’s why he dreams of Nastenka loving him, not because he loves her. Nastenka is lonely and sad and perhaps angry or bitter, so she wants to love him. They don’t care about each other, so I don’t understand why the narrator was surprised or upset that Nastenka chose the other man.
I can appreciate the story, but I found the narrator to be so annoying. And I don’t understand how this is thought to be so profound and impactful or why it garners so much hype. He feels bad about himself, so he uses a girl to make himself feel better, and they both don’t care about each other, so she breaks it off, and he becomes disillusioned with the concept of being a dreamer. Is that so profound? How is that so impactful? The writing is beautiful, but I just do not get why people like it so much. I honestly feel like because this is a short, easily understood piece by Dostoevsky people rave about it because they can say they both liked and understood Dostoevsky, but I don’t think it brings up anything particularly nuanced, unique, or clever. Honestly, I found the story mundane and thought that the prose overcompensated for lack of depth and substance, making the story feel pseudo intellectual. I don’t know. I just didn’t really like it or understand why every bookstagram or booktok person thinks this is great.
by webkinzluvr