White Nights- Fyodor Dostoevsky
138 times– the number of times a singular name was mentioned in an 82-page book. Isn’t that a lot of references made towards a character?
It isn’t typical to write a book review about a classic piece of fictional literature on a healthcare blog. However, the book White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky truly extends far beyond philosophy into concepts like mental health’s influence on an individual’s character and ability to make decisions. When people first describe White Nights, they talk about the piece like it’s a story of unrequited love, but Dostoevsky touches on topics that go far beyond “love” with White Nights.
The story begins with a man with an unknown name referred to as “the dreamer”. Dostoevsky shows the dreamer as a character isolated from society, with no one to accompany him. So what happened to him? Did he find someone? A friend, maybe? Well, he did meet someone…
Nastenka.
Yes, this is the name that was mentioned 138 times in the book. The dreamer saw Nastenka one night and rescued her from another man who was harassing her. He and Nastenka talked for a bit, and they agreed to meet up the next day. All the dreamer could think about was Nastenka. This couldn’t be because he truly loved her, since it would be impossible to love someone in one day. His “strong connection” with her was likely because genuine human interaction was far from his daily life. The obsession that the protagonist in White Nights develops reveals the complexity of human emotion and how isolation can profoundly influence the lives of individuals. This applies to everyone, though, not simply the hypothetical character in a book. If individuals don’t occupy themselves with things and people they enjoy, it’s typical for them to catch themselves in a similar state as the man in White Nights.
Nastenka, on the other hand, didn’t care much about the dreamer’s feelings. She also lived a life of loneliness as a caretaker, but had another love interest on her mind. Because she was so preoccupied with her own loneliness and despair, she couldn’t see the man’s desperation. Due to her mental state, she spoke with the dreamer not because of love, but because she had no one else who would listen to her. This idea touched upon the necessity of humans to be heard, no matter who the listener is.
These two characters showed the importance of social interactions and self-care. Individuals must develop hobbies, participate in self-care, and build centering habits to be happy and protect themselves from facing betrayal, even when they are alone.
Review:
I highly recommend that everyone read White Nights. It isn’t an extremely long book, but it’s truly able to capture the idea of what pushes people to act the way they do. In the modern day, it’s very easy to tell people not to do certain things because some things are “obviously” right to do, but this book showed how it isn’t always easy to see reality. I tried not to include too many spoilers in this review, but if you are even slightly interested, I highly recommend you read White Nights to find out what happens to both of these characters!
By Doga Ozecik