Mattingly Gerasimovich is a PhD student in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Northwestern University. He graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a double major in International Affairs and Russian Language and Literature. He was awarded special honors for my senior honors thesis, “Aesthetic Theory and Theatrical Practice: Sergei Tret’iakov’s Role in Redefining Art in the Early Soviet Union”.His research focuses primarily on the Russian avant-garde and the relationship between politics and aesthetics.