Dostoevsky's White Nights becomes TikTok hit

Fyodor Dostoevsky's 19th-century novella “White Nights” has become a bestseller in Brazil after gaining attention on TikTok, nearly 180 years after its release.

Brazilian publisher Editora 34 told AFP that its sales of the novella, one of Dostoevsky's earliest works, had risen 463 percent year-on-year. The book is also selling strongly in the United Kingdom and Spain.

The story follows a solitary dreamer in Saint Petersburg who meets a young woman and falls in love over four nights and a morning. Brazilian book influencer Marcelo Nogueira said Gen Z readers recognised “the figure of the solitary dreamer, which is how many young people feel today.”

BookTok, TikTok's book-focused community, has generated tens of thousands of comments on the novella. Paloma Lima, a Brazilian influencer and fan of Russian literature, said young TikTok users had come to her YouTube channel after reading “White Nights,” calling it a “short and intense” book that fits popular online romance tropes.

The trend has also drawn interest in other Dostoevsky works. Danilo Hora of Editora 34 said sales of “Crime and Punishment” rose 53 percent in the first seven months of the year.

Cecilia Rosas, a Brazilian researcher and translator of Russian literature, welcomed the interest in classics on social media but said it was important to distinguish literary criticism from posts that, in her view, amount to advertising.