Fedor Dostoevskij's lovers discussion

What sets Dostoevskij apart from other writers, in your opinion?
For me, Dostoevskij is always able to struck something very personal. He is very modern, in the sense that, he talks about universal truths that will always be in a life of a human being.

Completely agree!
There’s always sometimes just one line in his books that really sticks out, that makes me go through self-reflection all week. He’s a really impressive writer

His existentialist and kind way to put the things out. He's just a half-brother to me.

For me, it is his ability to get into your head. He is an amazing psychologist and just knows how the deeper parts of our mind work. So it sometimes feels like he is saying things which, unbeknownst to you, were long hidden in your own mind. And he is able to do that with all types of characters. For example, inner minds of all Karmazov brothers are so well fleshed out even though they all are widely different characters. This is very difficult to do. Most writers, if they do, manage only to explore inner mind of a single character (even that lacks the depth Dostoevsky offers though).

His selectivity of detail. A couple of concrete points and you know everything you need to know about a character, right down to their apparent values and less visible subconscious ones. Same for his plots—they're largely physical events and dialogue, but they concretize the biggest questions & abstract themes. Bc of this, imo Bros K is the greatest novel (qua novel, as a concretization of values into full characters & compelling plot) ever written :D.

In few words, he was human rather than writer, this is the magic of of this great man.

Hi, I'd be curious to hear your opinions about his short story "White Nights". I've heard good opinions about it but after experiencing it myself, I just cannot get my head around why it is so praised - so I'd be grateful for any explanations. Also, I'm not sure if it's the place to look for these answers but I thought to myself - where else, if not at the forum of Dostoyevki's works.