Yuly Aykhenvald: transformation of views

The present article is devoted to creative activity of Yuly Aykhenvald who is associated with Fin de siècle in history of Russian culture. Even in emigration (since 1922) he had been called one of the brightest critics of the epoch who turned the reading of literature into an art of individual perception, proclaimed the priority of co-creation and directly brought literary criticism closer to the reader. He considered a work of art should not be evaluated in terms of social utility; it is always a direct dialogue between a writer and a reader; to investigate a literary work means to create with reading meaning to write; each work is an autobiography of its creator. In his opinion, literature creates life rather than reflecting the latter; the value of a literary work lies in its singularity and uniqueness, with criticism being its direct continuation. However, over time under the influence of historical circumstances, his views changed - he himself increasingly sought to understand the artist in the context of its epoch, since for Yuly Aykhenvald, the existence of such a connection has already been proven by history. It is no doubt that Yuly Aykhenvald made a significant contribution to the development of Russian émigré literary criticism and became one of its most significant figures.