Victoria Avanesov

Wolf Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellow

20232024 Forum on Revolution

Victoria Avanesov

Comparative Literature, Philosophy

CAS, 2026

Victoria Avanesov is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences from Erie, Pennsylvania. She is pursuing a degree in Comparative Literature, Philosophy. Victoria's primary academic interest lies in the realm of aesthetics and the dissemination of artistic expression to a broader, mass audience. In exploring this interest, Victoria immerses herself in trying to understand various artistic forms, including my not limited to painting, drawing, music, theatre, and literature. Her research is dedicated to probing the communicability of these various media across different historical epochs, encompassing a spectrum of artistic movements, and examining how these movements can be contextualized in the modern era. In her free time, she enjoys reading, drawing, and taking nature walks.

Victory Over the Sun: Reimagining Russian Suprematist Works Through Hermeneutics 

This research aims to provide a critical examination of the Russian avant-garde, focusing on the iconic Suprematist opera "Victory Over the Sun." The research delves into the linguistic complexities of the Zaum language and its manifestation within the opera, which was a radical departure from conventional narrative and aesthetic forms. A revolutionary work at the time of its debut in 1913, the opera integrated Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist visual principles with Aleksei Kruchenykh's fragmented Zaum poetry, resulting in a performance that eschewed traditional storytelling for abstract ideological expression. My research navigates the nuanced translation challenges posed by the morphological peculiarities of Zaum, aiming to preserve its original spirit while addressing feminist critiques of the opera's inherent and historical misogyny. The study advocates for a translation approach that maintains Zaum's objectivity while incorporating necessary subjective interpretations to resonate with contemporary feminist discourse.