Full Stop Quarterly: Fall 2022

What does it mean to join a fight one no longer believes one can win?

Today, we use the term “cynic” or “cynical” to refer to someone who thinks that people are motivated purely by self-interest, or more colloquially, to someone who doubts the utility or worth of something. Some argue that today’s cynics, with their total lack of social or political conviction, have cheapened the philosophy of Cynicism: at least the ancient Cynics believed in something.

On the flip side, modern-day cynics would argue that unlike starry-eyed idealists who take everyone at their word, they are hesitant and suspicious and are the only ones who see reality for what it is. In this issue of the quarterly, writers confront this malaise and suspicion, what it means to them, personally and culturally.

Despite its bleak theme, we intend — dare we say hope — that this quarterly, and the various windows it offers on iconoclasts and ironists contemporary and historical, can generate new means of bridging the apparent chasm between cynicism and idealism.

Guest editor: Kudrat Wadhwa

Art: Hanna Marie Dean Wright

Featuring:

• Emily Alex
• Julia Conrad
• Mahnaz Dar
• Neha Mehrotra
• Julia Norza
• Caroline Reagan
• Matthew Weddig