Modern Discomfort with Romantic idealism in White Nights

This paper explores why many contemporary readers feel uncomfortable with the narrator of White Nights despite the novella presenting his emotions sincerely and romantically. Using Hans-Robert Jauss’s Reception Theory, I examine how cultural and social contexts influence the way readers interpret literature across different time periods. Behaviors that may have once been viewed as poetic sincerity are now often interpreted through the lens of irony, detachment, and internet-driven “cringe culture.” The paper analyzes the narrator’s rapid emotional attachment to Nastenka, his idealization of love, and his dramatic manner of self-expression. I connect these traits to modern concepts such as performative vulnerability, emotional dependency, “love-bombing,” and the “nice guy” archetype in order to explain why present-day readers may approach emotionally intense male narrators with caution.