A Nasty Anecdote. White Nights

This collection of works by the world-renowned Russian classic F. M. Dostoevsky includes one of his early stories — «A Nasty Anecdote», in which the characteristic techniques and features of the writer's style can already be seen, as well as the famous novella «White Nights», in which the prototype of the main character is Dostoevsky himself. The book is adorned with illustrations by two artists from the first half of the 20th century — Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky and Yuri Pavlovich Annenkov.
The story «A Nasty Anecdote» was written by F. M. Dostoevsky before the appearance of his most famous major novels. This satirical and largely grotesque work was first published in 1862. It already shows the characteristic techniques and features of Dostoevsky's style, the beginnings of all his subsequent characters and ideas; including the theme of «little people», which is so characteristic of him. In «A Nasty Anecdote», the writer emphasizes how the actions of «business people» and the ideals they proclaim diverge from the principles of humanism. One of these «little people&, a lonely and timid dreamer — the main character of Dostoevsky's famous novella «White Nights». He cannot fit into the real world and therefore retreats into the realm of dreams and unattainable fantasies. In this novella, Dostoevsky demonstrates his literary talent, subtly and skillfully «anatomizing the poor human heart». The writer refined the final text of this novella for a long time, the atmosphere of which reminds one of both «The Bronze Horseman» and «The House in Kolomna» by Pushkin. «White Nights» has been adapted multiple times for the screen, both in Russia and abroad. This novella has become one of Dostoevsky's landmark works.