Background
Aykhenvald was born in Balta, Russian Empire into a rabbi"s family and attended the New Russia University in Odessa, where he developed a lasting interest in Schopenhauer"s ideas.
Aykhenvald was born in Balta, Russian Empire into a rabbi"s family and attended the New Russia University in Odessa, where he developed a lasting interest 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 Revolution, and the publication of his essay "Revolution: the leaders and the led" (Revoljucija: ee vozhdi i evdomye"), where he attacked Trotzky personally, Aykhenvald was briefly arrested and then, in 1922, exiled to Germany where he involved himself in several high-profile émigré publications, including the newspaper Rulj. His life was cut short by a tram accident in Berlin.
Alexandra Aikhenvald (born 1957), his great-granddaughter, a linguist "There are no literary movements, only writers. There is no society, only individuals".
Quotations: "There are no literary movements, only writers. There is no society, only individuals".