Dostoevsky's "White Nights" have captivated young people around the world through TikTok

Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella "White Nights", written in 1848, has become a worldwide bestseller among Generation Z readers thanks to its viral popularity on the TikTok social network. This was reported on September 9 by the French BFM TV channel with reference to the AFP news agency.

TikTok users find a response in this work thanks to the image of a lonely Dreamer. This is the type in which many young people today recognize themselves, explained 27-year-old literary blogger Marcelo Nogueira. The romantic story of a hero walking through the streets of St. Petersburg has captured the hearts of young readers around the world, turning the Russian classic into a global phenomenon.

The TikTok effect has affected sales in bookstores. According to Brazilian publisher Editora 34, book sales jumped 463% in 2025, and the trend promises a new record in 2026. "White Nights" became a bestseller in other countries, including the UK and Spain. It is noted that the success of "White Nights" also pushed sales of Dostoevsky's more complex works: the novel "Crime and Punishment" showed an increase of 53%.

The final phrase of the story: "My God! A whole minute of bliss! Isn't that enough, even for the rest of a human life?" — became one of the most quoted in social networks, the article says. As noted by Russian writer Ekaterina Kvitko, young people in the West found the story of a lonely hero who seeks support in love especially close.

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Alexander Nitzberg, winner of the Russian "Read Russia" prize and the Austrian State Prize in literary translation, announced on August 15 that Dostoevsky is the most widely read Russian writer among European readers.

Pierre de Gaulle, grandson of former French President Charles de Gaulle, deputy chairman of the Leo Tolstoy Peace Prize jury, said on August 1 that French readers love Russian writers, in particular Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev.