Idealism vs Reality in White Nights

Is a moment of bliss enough to last a whole life?

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s White Nights is one of my favorite short stories of all time. It is a heart-breaking and almost cruel story, but I think what it says is one of the most relatable messages in literature that I’ve read. Like his other book, Notes from Underground, it’s almost hard to believe it was written in the 1800s. The story follows an unnamed narrator who lives in Saint Petersburg and is deeply lonely. He meets a girl, Nastenka, one night and falls in love with her, but his love is unrequited as she is still in love with a man from her past, and ultimately she reunites with him just as she and the narrator begin to plan their life together. 

The narrator is a deeply lonely man, and he spends his nights wandering the streets and bridges of Saint Petersburg, daydreaming and fantasizing about his life and the lives of all the others in the city. He imagines idealized versions of the people who he sees and interacts with, and he imagines an idealized version of Saint Petersburg. His idealization of life and romance takes full hold once he meets Nastenka and falls in love with her. He barely knows her, falling in love with her after only knowing her for two days; as in his idealization he sees her as a kindred spirit, and imagines that they will save each other from their loneliness. 

Of course, this is only a fantasy. In reality, Nastenka is in love with a man who has left for Moscow, but promised her he would return and marry her. The conflict of idealization vs reality reaches its climax as Nastenka comes to believe that he isn’t coming back for her and the narrator confesses his love to her. Nastenka, now sharing in the narrator's idealization begins to walk with him and discuss their future together. However, reality rears its ugly head when the man does find Nastenka, and she leaves the Narrator and runs for her lover. 

Even after being hit with reality, the narrator doesn’t lose his idealization. While he briefly ponders the possibility of being alone his whole life, he believes that his memory of the time spent with Nastenka is enough for him, saying to himself: “My God, a moment of bliss. Why, isn’t that enough for a whole lifetime?”.