White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
REVIEW SUBMISSION
| White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | |
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| Category: Anthologies, Literary Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Heather Magee
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| Summary: This collection of three short stories by Dostoyevsky was a delight. The psychological depth of the characters, the ‘skaz’ narrative style and the wonderful moments of humour all make this collection an immensely entertaining read. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 240 | Date: February 2023 |
| Publisher: Penguin Classics | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0241619780 | |
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As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.
The first story, ‘A Nasty Business’ follows Ivan Ilyich Pravinsky, a young man recently appointed as a general. With his newfound status, Ivan fancies himself a progressive, priding himself on his humane values—especially in contrast to his colleagues, whom he dismisses as "retrogrades”.
One evening, he literally (and drunkenly) stumbles upon a subordinate’s wedding, and decides to enter, boasting his indifference towards class divisions. What unfolds is a hilariously cringe-worthy series of events in which Ivan Ilyich’s supposed humility completely unravels. His drunken antics quickly make him the unwelcome centre of attention. He ruins the wedding, ends up sleeping in the bridal bed, and vomits throughout the night—his noble intentions amounting to nothing but chaos and embarrassment. The brilliance of this story lies in Dostoyevsky's ability to craft situations that leave the reader wincing at Ivan Ilyich’s utter lack of self-awareness. Despite his self-image as a man of the people, his behaviour disrupts the natural social order, revealing the farcical limits of his ‘progressive’ ideals.
‘The Meek One’, the second story, is longer and written in a more fragmented prose, mirroring the scattered mental state of its narrator, a middle-aged pawnbroker. He opens the story in a state of shock, having just discovered that his young wife has committed suicide minutes before he arrived home. He recounts the events of their troubled relationship, marked by his misguided attempt to ‘save’ her from her dismal family situation by proposing to her.
This so-called noble intention, however, only serves to underscore his own emotional ineptitude. In his efforts to make her understand what kind of man he is, he chooses to remain silent in her company, a silence she mirrors, and which breeds mistrust and ill-feeling between them.The Russian skaz narrative style, which mimics the spoken word, works beautifully here to portray the narrator as a bumbling fool, as if he were a schoolchild recounting an incident to an exasperated teacher.
This story of a neglected wife and her clueless husband dispels into a very nihilistic worldview held by our narrator, who has displayed nothing but cowardice and insecurity throughout the tale. To put it lightly, the ending is anything but satisfactory.
The titular story, ‘White Nights’, is my favourite. The unnamed narrator, a dreamy and lonely young man, stumbles upon Nastenka one wintry night. She appears vulnerable, crying in the street, and he feels compelled to speak to her. Even the fact that he learns her name, while she never asks for his, speaks volumes about the dynamics between them. He is helplessly drawn to her; she simply hosts his kindness.
The two decide to get to know one another over the course of several nights, sharing the stories of their lives. Our narrator speaks first, lamenting the isolation that has defined his existence: "And in vain does the dreamer rake through his old dreams, as if they were ashes, searching in these ashes for at least some little spark, in order to fan it into flames…” His poetic outpourings could easily come off as self-pitying, but Dostoyevsky’s beautiful imagery and turns of phrase make them captivating. The narrator is a typical eccentric, romantic type—driven by a "morbidly excited imagination." His aloof sincerity charms Nastenka, who seems, at best, entertained by his flights of fancy.
Nastenka, however, is just as lonely as our narrator. She reveals that for the past year she has been bound to her blind grandmother’s clothes as punishment for mischief. She had little social life, except for a young lodger with whom she developed a slow-burning romance. The day she meets our hero is the day she has been waiting for—the day of her lover’s return from Moscow. Our narrator, besotted with Nastenka, agrees to help her reunite with her lost love, despite his growing feelings for her.
Over the course of four nights, their friendship deepens, blossoming into love. There’s a beautiful symmetry in Dostoyevsky’s portrayal of Nastenka’s world: her blind grandmother, deaf maid, and mute, lame previous lodger—all incapable of fully engaging with life. In contrast, our hero, so acutely attuned to the world through his sensitivity and emotion, seems like an irresistible force of change in her life.
Eventually, our hero can bear it no longer: he confesses his love and after some consideration, Nastenka reciprocates, both lonely souls now bound to each other. Their brief moment of mutual affection is portrayed as a delicate dance, their emotions rippling between them through subtle gestures—a squeeze of the hand, a tear welling up, a sharp intake of breath. But this dance is interrupted by the return of Nastenka’s former lover. She ultimately chooses the life she had dreamed of before meeting our hero, leaving him to retreat once again into his solitary existence.
Nastenka remains an ambiguous figure. Is she a selfish soul, carelessly toying with our narrator's feelings? Or is she, like him, simply lonely and desperate, swept up by the kindness of a stranger? Her letter to the narrator after she becomes engaged, inviting him to her wedding, is thoughtless and almost cruel. It’s hard not to side with our hapless hero as he is left with nothing but his shattered dreams.
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Review ofWhite Nights by Fyodor DostoyevskyAs always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity. Full Review |