‘You think you know love until you read this book’: Why TikTok is obsessed with this 1848 Russian novella

“Pov: you think you know love until you read this book,” reads a viral TikTok post that’s referring not to a bestseller by Colleen Hoover or Sarah J. Maas, but instead a 150-year-old Russian novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. 

This year, the Penguin Classics edition of Dostoevsky’s White Nights was the fourth-most sold work of literature in translation in the U.K., according to The Guardian. London-based bookshop Hatchards reported sold 190 copies in the last year alone, with its general manager describing the sudden popularity of the novella as nothing short of a “phenomenon.”

The hashtag #Dostoevsky has over 34 million posts on TikTok, with searches for the book on the platform bringing up page after page of fervent reviews, annotated copies, and quotes superimposed over moody shots. There are now even White Nights-inspired Spotify playlists full of songs by composers like Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, allowing readers to immerse themselves fully in the story’s melancholy.

Published in 1848, White Nights is set in St. Petersburg, Russia during the summer, when the evenings are known as “white nights.” Narrated in first person by a nameless young man, the story follows his chance meeting with a woman longing for a lover who promised to return. Over several nights, they form a connection, but while he falls in love, she remains steadfastly devoted to her absent partner. The result is a 19th-century take on “main character syndrome,” with BookTok eating up the novella’s themes of alienation, longing, and loneliness. 

“When he says ‘ily’ but Dostoevsky said ‘and if I’d already loved you for twenty years, I still couldn’t have loved you more than I do right now,'” reads one TikTok post. Given the book’s themes of loneliness and yearning, it’s perhaps unsurprising the 80-page White Nights has struck a chord with the social media generation. Young people aged 16 to 24 feel more lonely than any other age group, according to Forbes, and 73% of Gen Z report feeling alone sometimes or always.

Despite being born over 200 years ago, Dostoevsky gets it. One TikToker wrote, “Me when a Russian man who lived in the 19th century somehow perfectly describes an issue I have.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91250524/why-tiktok-is-obsessed-with-white-nights-by-fyodor-dostoevsky?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Created 4mo | Dec 20, 2024, 11:30:04 AM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders because of Trump’s tariffs

Nintendo is pushing back preorders for its upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 while it figures out the implications of President Donald Trump’s

Apr 4, 2025, 6:50:05 PM | Fast company - tech
$2,300 for an iPhone? Trump’s tariffs could make that a reality

Your favorite iPhone could soon become much pricier, thanks to tariffs.

Apr 4, 2025, 4:30:07 PM | Fast company - tech
My dog recognizes the sounds a Waymo car makes

Most of us know the general (albeit simplified) story: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used a stimulus—like a metronome—around the dogs he was studying, and soon, the hounds would start to saliva

Apr 4, 2025, 4:30:07 PM | Fast company - tech
How I wrote the notes app of my dreams (no coding required)

For years, I’ve had a secret ambition tucked away somewhere near the back of my brain. It was to write a simple note-taking app—one that wouldn’t be overwhelmed with features and that would reflec

Apr 4, 2025, 2:20:04 PM | Fast company - tech
The AI tools we love right now—and what’s next

AI tools are everywhere, changing the way we work, communicate, and even create. But which tools are actually useful? And how can users integrate

Apr 4, 2025, 2:20:04 PM | Fast company - tech
How this former Disney Imagineer is shaping the next generation of defense technology

The way Bran Ferren sees it, the future of warfare depends as much on creativity as it does on raw firepower.

The former head of research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering—the

Apr 4, 2025, 11:50:04 AM | Fast company - tech
How AI is steering the media toward a ‘close enough’ standard

The nonstop cavalcade of announcements in the AI world has created a kind of reality distortion field. There is so much bu

Apr 4, 2025, 9:40:02 AM | Fast company - tech