Ronald Meyer’s translation of Dostoevsky’s “White Nights (1848),” as reprinted in Penguin UK’s Little Black Classics (2016), has become a social media sensation. According to a story in the Guardian (Dec. 17, 2024). “White Nights” came in fourth in sales of works in translation in the UK in 2024. The phenomenon was picked up a few weeks later in The Financial Times, which reported that the edition had sold 50,000 copies since January 2024.
in 2024, the Penguin Classics little black book edition of Dostoevsky’s “White Nights” was the fourth most sold work of literature in the UK…. Book Tok and its Instagram parallel Bookstagram … yield page after page of reviews, quotes, and moody shots of the book next to cups of coffee. The Guardian
What is it about “White Nights,” a book written 176 years ago, that appeals to BookTok’s Generation-Z base in particular? It helps that it was written when Dostoyevsky was 26 years old, and describes what its unnamed narrator–also 26–calls a “wonderful night, the kind of night, dear reader, the is only possible when we are young.” Financial Times
Read the story in The Guardian Read the story in Financial Times
Photo: Jack Edwards reviewing White Nights on Instagram