"White Nights" is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky**, which tells the story of a lonely dreamer and an unfortunate woman who meet, fall in love and separate during the White Nights in St. Petersburg. This ** shows the author's deep insight into human nature, idealism and pessimism about love, and criticism and sympathy for society.
White Nights is a touching love story, but also a work that reflects the realities of nineteenth-century Russian society. The protagonist is a nameless young man who lives in St. Petersburg, a metropolis full of hustle, indifference and hypocrisy. He has no friends, no loved ones, no job, no goals, only his own fantasies and dreams. He wandered aimlessly during the white nights, looking for a little warmth and care. He stumbles upon a woman named Nastasya, who is also an unfortunate soul who is toyed with and abandoned by a rich and ruthless man. They confide in each other in the white night, comfort each other, accompany each other, and gradually develop love. However, their love is destined to be fruitless, because Nastasya is still holding on to fantasies about the man, who suddenly appears and asks her to return to him. In the end, they parted before dawn, and he gave her a ring as a souvenir, and she left him a letter as a farewell. They never saw each other again.
I was deeply moved by this ** and also made me think about a lot of questions. I feel that the author expresses his own views and attitudes towards love through this story. He believes that love is the most beautiful thing in life, but it is also the most painful thing. He is full of idealism in love, but also full of pessimism. He praises the protagonist's innocence, kindness, loyalty, and sacrifice, but also hints at his weakness, childishness, selfishness, and avoidance. He exposes Nastasya's misery, helplessness, humiliation, and betrayal, but also points out her fantasies, contradictions, dependence, and betrayal. He criticized the man for his cruelty, greed, vanity, and deceit, but also showed his charisma, power, talent, and **. He uses the special time and space of the White Night to symbolize their love: beautiful and short, bright and blurred, mysterious and sad.
I feel that the author also reflects the realities of Russian society in the nineteenth century through this story. He painted a picture of the city of St. Petersburg: magnificent and cold, prosperous and empty, civilized and barbaric. He presents a wide variety of characters in society: aristocrats, merchants, military officers, artists, vagrants, beggars, etc. He analyzed the various problems that exist in society: the gap between the rich and the poor, the class struggle, moral decay, psychopathy, etc. He expressed his criticism and sympathy for society, his concern and hope for the people, and his worries and expectations for the future.
After reading White Night, I sighed very much, it is not only a love story, but also a society**. It made me feel the talent and emotions of the author, and also made me understand the history and culture of Russia.
Dostoevsky's biography
Fyodor Dostoevsky was an outstanding writer whose works profoundly reflected the realities of 19th-century society and the complexity of human nature. His life was also full of twists and turns and contradictions, he experienced poverty, exile, gambling, love, and death.
Dostoevsky was born on November 11, 1821, in Moscow to a poor family of military doctors, and his parents were both descendants of nobles of Lithuanian origin.
He had a keen interest in literature from an early age, influenced by writers such as Shakespeare, Balzac, Gogol, and others. In 1838 he entered the St. Petersburg Military Engineering School, and after graduating in 1843 he gave up his military career and began writing full-time.
In 1845, he published his first ** "The Poor", which was highly praised. In 1846, he published The Double Personality, revealing the contradictions and contradictions of human nature. In 1848, he published White Nights, a sad love story.
In 1849, Dostoevsky** was sentenced to death for his involvement in an anti-tsarist literary group, but was pardoned for four years of hard labor and six years of exile before his execution. This experience had a huge impact on his thinking and creation, making him pay more attention to social issues and the fate of mankind.
In 1859, Dostoevsky returned to Petersburg and resumed his literary work. In 1861, he published The Wounded and Insulted, exposing the darkness and sins of bourgeois society. In 1862, he made his first trip abroad, visiting several European countries and publishing "Impressions of Summer in Winter".
In 1864, Dostoevsky suffered a major blow when his first wife, Maria, and his brother Mikhail died, leaving him in huge debt. In this case, he spent a month writing "The Gambler" to pay off his creditors. In the same year, he published Notes from the Basement,* which dealt with the question of free will and existentialism.
In 1866, Dostoevsky published Crime and Punishment, one of his most famous works, about the psychological changes and redemption process of a murderer, Roskolnikov. In the same year, he married his second wife, Anna, and began publishing his own magazine, Time.
In 1868, Dostoevsky published The Idiot, which described the misunderstanding and devastation of an innocent and kind Duke Myshkin in society. In 1870, he published "The Forever Husband", which satirized the moral turpitude of the middle class.
In 1871-1872, Dostoevsky published Ghosts, a political film that reflected the revolutionary movements and currents of thought of the time, as well as a psychological work, analyzing the personalities and motivations of various characters.
In 1873, Dostoevsky became editor-in-chief of the magazine "Citizen" and began publishing "Writer's Diary", a collection of his essays on literary and social criticism, expressing his thoughts and opinions.
In 1875, Dostoevsky published "Youth", which is his only ** with a child as the protagonist, showing the growth and spiritual journey of a teenager.
In 1876, Dostoevsky published The Meek Woman, a tragedy** about a wife who commits suicide after being abused by her husband.
In 1877, Dostoevsky published The Dream of an Absurd Man, a fable about a man who experiences a strange world in a dream and finally wakes up feeling empty and frightened.
From 1879 to 1880, Dostoevsky published The Brothers Karamazov, his last and greatest work, considered the pinnacle of literature. Through a family story of cannibalism between father and son and brother fighting, this ** shows the various problems and contradictions of society and the human spirit, involving philosophy, religion, morality, law, psychology and other fields.
On January 28, 1881, the Writer's Diary** ended. On February 9 of the same year, Dostoevsky died in St. Petersburg at the age of 59. His funeral attracted thousands of people to see him off.