Yuly Aykhenvald

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Yuly Aykhenvald (before 1917)
A 1923 edition of Aykhenvald's Silhouettes of Russian Writers

Yuly Isayevich Aykhenvald, Aikhenvald, or Eichenwald (

Jewish literary critic who developed a native brand of Aestheticism. Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov called Aykhenvald "a Russian version of Walter Pater".[1]

Life

Aykhenvald was born in

Schopenhauer's ideas. After moving to Moscow
in 1895, he employed a number of pen-names, including Yu. Ald (Ю. Альд) and B. Kamenetsky (Б. Каменецкий).

Aykhenvald followed Schopenhauer in that art is irrational and that the essence of it can be reached only by dint of

intuition
. 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 Orthodox cemetery in Tegel, Berlin.[3]

Family

  • Lev Aikhenvald (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 (born 1957), his great-granddaughter, a linguist
  • Natalia Shvedova (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 sketches of major Russian authors and their works. His argument that Ivan Turgenev 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".[4]

Online resources

Notes