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"All of a sudden it seemed to me as though I, the solitary one, had been forsaken by the whole world, and that the whole world would have nothing to do with me."

No doubt that at some point in our lives, each of us can relate to the sentiment expressed by the narrator of Dostoyevsky’s short story, White Nights. A lonely soul, a young man, wanders the streets of St. Petersburg musing over a city left emptied as the crowds flee to the countryside for their holidays. He, of course, has not received an invite to escape with the masses. Despite the fact that he makes it a habit to study the faces and emotions of others, not one person really knows or understands him. He is left behind as always. He is a dreamer and finds solace in his fantasies. I imagine the white nights of midsummer, when the sun continues to shine well into the night in the northern latitudes, make one feel even more acutely the pain of being alone, as his or her solitary figure is illuminated even more glaringly by the seemingly everlasting brilliance.

One night, however, becomes different from all others as the narrator embarks on an adventure of sorts by saving a solitary young woman from pursuit by a drunken gentleman. A friendship strikes up as the two share their stories with one another. The young man is thankful for the newly discovered companionship and proclaims: "Oh, bless you, bless you a thousand times, my dear, for not having turned away from me at first, for making it possible for me to say that for at least two evenings in my life I have really lived!"

The story is quite compelling, and certainly one that is very relatable. Loneliness and unrequited love are indeed universal experiences. What I love about reading Dostoyevsky is how penetrating his observance of human emotion. However, at times I find his writing to be overly sentimental, as is the case here. I don’t like my romance with too much syrup. In fact, I’m more of a light, whipped cream kind of gal, forget the syrup altogether. I think this is a great place to start if one would like to try reading this author, before jumping into one of his rather weighty tomes. It will give you a nice feel for his style, although from what I understand this is one of his earliest works. According to the notes in my copy: “Dostoevsky was to re-write this story in his true manner of creative artist and thinker seventeen years later under the title Notes from the Underground.� I believe I have a copy of that title as well, so I think it would be interesting to make a comparison of the two pieces.