[2] Eikhenbaum was born in Voronezh, the grandson of Jewish mathematician and poet Jacob Eichenbaum.
From 1913 to 1914, Eikhenbaum published in a number of periodicals, and conducted reviews of foreign literature in the newspaper «Русская молва».
[4][5][6][7] A key moment in the biography of Eikhenbaum was his involvement with other members of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOJAZ), which was formed in 1916.
Eikhenbaum provided definition and interpretation for the group,[8] with essays such as Theory of the "Formal Method" he helped outline their approach to literature.
[9] From 1947 to 1949, Eikhenbaum was victimized by the campaign against "rootless cosmopolitanism",[10][11] along with Viktor Zhirmunsky, Grigorii Gukovskii, and Mark Azadovsky, but was able to continue his science.