"White Nights" by Dostoevsky belong to the genre of a sentimental novel. The composition of the work is of considerable interest to researchers: the novel consists of several short stories, each of which tells about one romantic night from the life of the protagonist.
Tie
The novel "White Nights" by Dostoevsky is conducted on behalf of a young man who calls himself a "dreamer." As in many other works of the great Russian novelist, the action takes place in St. Petersburg: the dreamer has been living here for eight years, rents a small room, goes to work. He has no friends at all, in his free time, the young man prefers to wander alone through the streets, peering at the houses. Once on the embankment he notices a girl who is being pursued by an obsessive gentleman. Having pity on the sobbing stranger, the dreamer drives away the tipsy dandy and escorts her home.
Image system
In Dostoevsky’s White Nights novel, literary scholars distinguish two central characters: the narrator and Nastenka. This is a lively, direct and gullible girl, she tells the dreamer the uncomplicated story of her life: after the death of her parents, the girl lived with a blind grandmother who was so worried about her morality that she was pinning her dress with a pin to her skirt. The life of both women changed when a guest settled in them. Nastya fell in love with him, but he dissuaded himself from poverty and promised to marry her a year later, after which he disappeared.
Denouement
Dostoevsky’s “White Nights” ends in the best traditions of the author of the Pentateuch: the dreamer, speaking in the role of a noble lover, volunteers to personally deliver Nastenka’s letter to her treacherous lover, but he does not respond. Young people are going to tie the knot. However, if the hero had everything in the final, it would not have been Dostoevsky. "White Nights" ends as follows: during a walk Nastya meets a former tenant; it turns out he never forgot the girl. The lovers reunite, and the romantic, magical nights of the dreamer give way to a gloomy, rainy morning.
Main character
As for the image of a dreamer, the following should be said about him: a lonely, proud, subtly sensitive young man, capable of deep feelings. He kind of opens a gallery of similar characters with the great Russian novelist.
The image of the dreamer can be considered autobiographical: behind him lies Dostoevsky himself. “On the one hand,” the writer declares, “a fictional life leads away from true reality; however, how great is its creative value. But in the end, only this one matters.”
White Nights, Dostoevsky: summary
In short, the novel is a story of failed love: the hero is ready to give everything for the sake of his beloved girl, but when his victim is unnecessary, the dreamer does not become embittered, does not curse fate and those around him.
With a smile he blesses Nastya for her new life, the young man’s love turns out to be as pure and clear as white nights. Like many of Dostoevsky’s early works, White Nights continues in many respects the tradition of sentimentalism.