Akim Volynsky


Akim Lvovich Volynsky was a Russian literary critic and historian, one of the early ideologists of the Russian Modernism.

Early Life

Born into a Jewish family, his identity would play a role in his future artistic endeavors.

Career

Volynsky came to prominence in 1890—1895 with a series of essays published by Severny Vestnik of which he later became the co-editor. His 1896 book Russian Critics which targeted figures like Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Dobrolyubov, later in its turn evoked Georgy Plekhanov's scathing criticism. It was followed by another seminal compilation, Fighting for Idealism. Among Akim Volynsky's notable books were Leonardo da Vinchi and F.M. Dostoyevsky ; the former drew accusations of plagiarism, as Volynsky the editor has apparently used in it the materials collected by Dmitry Merezhkovsky.
After the 1917 Revolution Volynsky stayed in the Soviet Russia. In 1920-1924 he was a chairman of the Leningrad section of the Writers' Union and for a while headed the Leningrad School of Choreography. His treatise Book of Joys. The Alphabet of the Classic Dance came out in 1925.