Dostoevsky's White Nights becomes TikTok hit

Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights" has become a bestseller in Brazil nearly 180 years after its release, as TikTok's BookTok community turns the 19th-century novella into a social media favourite.

Editora 34 publishing house said its sales of the novella, one of Dostoevsky's earliest works, had jumped 463 percent year-on-year. The book is also selling strongly in the United Kingdom and Spain.

"White Nights" follows a solitary dreamer in Saint Petersburg over four nights and a morning as he meets a young woman and falls in love. The story's themes of loneliness, longing and brief happiness have made it widely quoted online.

Marcelo Nogueira, a 27-year-old Brazilian book influencer, said many Gen Z readers recognise themselves in the figure of the solitary dreamer. Paloma Lima, a 29-year-old influencer and fan of Russian literature, said the novella fits TikTok tastes because it is short, intense and echoes popular romance narratives.

The trend has also drawn attention in Russia, where some writers expressed surprise that a younger international audience had embraced the work.

Danilo Hora of Editora 34 said "White Nights" had become a gateway to Dostoevsky's other books. He reported a 53 percent increase in sales of "Crime and Punishment" during the first seven months of the year.

Cecilia Rosas, a Brazilian researcher and translator of Russian literature, welcomed new interest in classics on social media but said readers should distinguish literary criticism from online content that functions more like advertising.