Abraham Uri Kovner

Born in Vilna and yeshiva-educated around Minsk, Abraham (Albert) Uri Kovner was a maskil and literary critic who wrote initially in Hebrew and, after 1868, in Russian. Inspired to write critically about Haskalah Hebrew literature by what he considered its superficial preoccupation with subjects of little relevance, he was disturbed by the ignorance of science he found in his Jewish contemporaries. He was deeply influenced by the Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky. Later in life Kovner was arrested for forgery; while in prison he began an active correspondence with Dostoyevsky, discussing Jewish issues; Dostoyevsky published highlights of their discussions in several articles. Ultimately, Kovner converted to Christianity and took on the name Arkadii Grigor’evich Kovner; he nonetheless continued to campaign against antisemitism.