Adel Zahedi
asked:
Why the title white nights? I can't stop thinking about this wonderful book.
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Jane
White nights in russian refers to the phenomenon around the the time of the summer solstice when the sun doesn't set completely and so at night it's not completely dark, it's just dusk. I believe the farther north you go the more pronounced the phenomenon becomes, changing from polar day to the polar night (several months of constant sunlight and then several months of comlete darkness). Saint Petersburg, where the story takes place, is famous for it's white nights, and is commonly called the city of white nights. In Saint Petersburg they last roughly from the end of may to the middle of june. So that's what the title refers to.
Maerwynn_Aisling
A white night is a night in which you don't sleep and that is what the protagonists do during their first meetings. And they become very important for the main character hence the name.
Dasha
The Saint Petersburg is located in far north part of Russia and its weather is sort of similar to the weather in Wellington in New Zealand - some would say "it's the most beautiful place on Earth on a sunny day, but the sunny day is only once a year". The rest of the days is grey and gloomy. Its cold and dark at Autumn and Spring in Saint Petersburg, and Winter is the Mother of All Winters, pitch black and cold as a graveyard, stormy and windy. Summer is short. But the summer is sunny, and there is no day and night but only a day, as even at night there is no darkness. Just few weeks, few days of Summer with no sorrow and no darkness, before endless Winter returns
Dany
Check out this report in Russian about the white nights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXdDt...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXdDt...
George P.
According to Wikipedia, it can refer to the White Nights Festival, an annual arts festival in St. Petersburg, Russia during the season of the midnight sun. The Doestoevsky story is set in St. Petersberg during the summer. I think it also carries an emotional meaning for the story.
According to Wikipedia, it can refer to the White Nights Festival, an annual arts festival in St. Petersburg, Russia during the season of the midnight sun. The Doestoevsky story is set in St. Petersberg during the summer. I think it also carries an emotional meaning for the story.
Claudio Kappel
White Nights reminds me of a situation when darkness would not be any friend. Light would represent something beyond natural events. Something such as freedom and true happiness; pure and free from false friends ilusions and drunkness effects. It might really be, yet possibly temporary, a magical solution to a difficult case.
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