White nights, and other stories

About the book

A solitary walker has made the streets and buildings of Petersburg into familiar companions, though the people passing him scarcely know he exists. Meeting Nastenka gives the dreamer of White Nights a chance to exchange an imagined relationship for a real conversation. This volume places that tender, anxious narrative beside the combative voice of Notes from Underground and five other stories. The contrast makes it a particularly revealing introduction to Dostoyevsky's shorter fiction. Desire for affection can sit beside wounded pride, while a narrator's confidence may expose the very insecurity it tries to conceal. Read the pieces separately and listen for changes of address: a voice seeking sympathy from its listener does not necessarily understand the person it describes.

• Loneliness
• Self-deception
• The need for recognition

Why read it

For a collection that sets vulnerable dreaming beside the discomforts of self-examination and argument.

Story collection · Constance Garnett English translation