Yuly Isayevich Aykhenvald, Aikhenvald, or Eichenwald (; 24 January 1872 – 17 December 1928) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

literary

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

who developed a native brand of

Aestheticism Aestheticism (also known as the aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to b ...

. Russian-American author

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

called Aykhenvald "a Russian version of

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of t ...

Life

Aykhenvald was born in Balta,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

into a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

's family and attended the New Russia University in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, where he developed a lasting interest in

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the manife ...

's ideas. After moving to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1895, he employed a number of pen-names, including ''Yu. Ald'' () and ''B. Kamenetsky'' (). Aykhenvald followed Schopenhauer in that art is irrational and that the essence of it can be reached only by dint of

intuition Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without recourse to conscious reasoning or needing an explanation. Different fields use the word "intuition" in very different ways, including but not limited to: direct access to unconscious knowledg ...

. He panned most Russian literary critics for applying social and utilitarian criteria to literature and for producing political journalism in the guise of artistic criticism. Following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, and the publication of his essay 'Revolution: the leaders and the led' (Revoljucija: ee vozhdi i vedomye'), where he attacked

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

personally, Aykhenvald was briefly arrested and then, in 1922, exiled to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

where he involved himself in several high-profile émigré publications, including the newspaper Rulj. His life was cut short by a

tram accident A tram accident is any accident involving a tram or tram system. Though tram systems can be environmentally friendly, efficient, and cost effective methods of transport within Urban area, urban areas, issues such as poor maneuverability and lo ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He is buried in the

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

cemetery in

Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinke ...

, Berlin.

Family

Lev Aikhenvald Lev or LEV may refer to: People and fictional characters *Lev (given name) *Lev (surname) Places *Lev, Azerbaijan, a village *Lev (crater), a tiny lunar crater Religion *an abbreviation for Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible and the ...

(1873–1954), his brother, psychiatrist, author of works on forensic psychiatric examination and organization of psychiatric care. * Alexander Aikhenvald (1904–1941), his son, an economist and member of Bukharin's school * Boris Aikhenvald (1902-1938), his son, a translator and philosopher * Tatiana Aikhenvald (1900-1963), his daughter, a well-known teacher of mathematics * Yury Aikhenvald (1928–1993), his grandson, a poet, a writer and a dissident *

Alexandra Aikhenvald Alexandra Yurievna "Sasha" Aikhenvald (''Eichenwald'') is an Australian-Brazilian linguist specialising in linguistic typology and the Arawak language family (including Tariana) of the Brazilian Amazon basin. She is a professorial research fe ...

(born 1957), his great-granddaughter, a linguist *

Natalia Shvedova Natalia Yulievna Shvedova (, 25 December 1916 – 18 September 2009) was a Soviet lexicographer who authored several standard outlines of Russian grammar, for which she was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1982. Yuly Aikhenvald's daughter and Vik ...

(1916–2009), his natural daughter, a lexicographer and an expert on Russian syntax

Books

*In his best-known book ''Silhouettes of Russian Writers'' (1909) Aykhenvald offers a series of memorable

impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

sketches of major Russian authors and their works. His argument that

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...

was a second-rate writer caused an outcry in the conservative literary circles.

Quotes

*"There are no literary movements, only writers. There is no society, only individuals".Львов-Рогачевский. История литературы и методы ее изучения // Словарь литературных терминов. Т. 1. — 1925
at feb-web.ru

Online resources

Русское зарубежье (Золотая книга эмиграции) Первая треть XX века. Энциклопедический биографический словарь. М., 1997. 748 с.
at apologetika.com

at www.rulex.ru

at www.krugosvet.ru

at www.hrono.ru *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aykhenvald Yuly 1872 births 1928 deaths People from Balta, Ukraine Literary critics from the Russian Empire Jewish Ukrainian writers Ukrainian literary critics Jewish Russian writers Writers from the Russian Empire Railway accident deaths in Germany