White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 White Nights & Bobok by Fyodor Dostoevsky – Two Faces of the Human Soul

“What is a day but a little eternity?”

“I am a dreamer. I know it.”

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars.”

 

These lines stayed with me long after I turned the last page of White Nights. But before I could move on, I ended up reading Bobok too  and that completely shifted my view of Dostoevsky. These two short stories show two completely different faces of human life: one emotional, the other absurdly dark. Yet both left a deep mark on me. It is short. Just a few chapters. I read it in one sitting, and when it ended, I didn’t know what to do with the ache it left inside me.

The story is simple. A lonely man a dreamer  walks the streets of St. Petersburg at night. He meets a young woman named Nastenka. They talk. They share. For four nights, something magical happens between them. This dreamer he lives more in his imagination than in the real world. His emotions are intense, but hidden. For the first time, he feels truly connected to someone. And yet, like many dreamers, he does not get what he longs for.

While reading, I kept thinking of Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind. The dreamer escapes into fantasy because reality is too painful. He wants love, but he cannot say it. He wants life, but he is afraid. His dreams are not foolish they are his way of surviving. There is also a layer of Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential thought. The dreamer chooses to love. He chooses to feel, even though it leads to pain. Sartre believed that humans are free, and with freedom comes responsibility. The dreamer takes responsibility for his feelings. He lets Nastenka go, even though it breaks him. That is what makes him human.

"I am terrified even to think about the future, because the future is once again loneliness, once again this stagnant, useless life " 

The line “I have lived through so much in just four nights, more than some live in a lifetime” stayed with me. Sometimes, the shortest moments leave the deepest wounds. Even though it was written in the 1800s, White Nights is not outdated. It's real. Honest. Raw. If you’ve ever felt lonely, or in love, or heartbroken this book will reach you. And maybe heal you.

After finishing White Nights, I wanted more. That’s when I found Bobok  a strange, haunting story that shook me in a different way. Bobok is about a writer who visits a cemetery and suddenly hears the thoughts of the dead people buried there. Even after death, they talk  not about peace or regret, but about petty gossip, lies, corruption, and filth just likr The Dance of Forest by Wole Soyinka.

It’s disturbing. The dead have no shame. They’ve lost everything, even the mask of morality. Dostoevsky uses this to show what happens when there’s no soul, no conscience  only the leftovers of decayed minds. Reading White Nights and Bobok back to back was like looking at two mirrors: one shows a dreamer’s heart, the other shows a decaying soul.

If you’re new to Dostoevsky just like me, start with White Nights. It’s emotional, gentle, and beautiful. Then, when you're ready to see the darker side, read Bobok. It's short, shocking, and unforgettable.

Thank You.