Vinson Cunningham on Standing Athwart Time

Mar 22

“You could just call it noticing. You could just call it description. But the function of what we call criticism is to stop time. To stand athwart time and assert your love for experience.”

Vinson Cunningham is the author of the novel Great Expectations and a staff writer and theatre critic at The New Yorker. In 2020, he was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his profile of the comedian Tracy Morgan. A former White House staffer, he now teaches in the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.

Jordan Kisner

Vinson Cunningham on Standing Athwart Time

“You could just call it noticing. You could just call it description. But the function of what we call criticism is to stop time. To stand athwart time and assert your love for experience.”

Meghan O’Rourke on The Stories We Hide From Ourselves