Creation Lake

by Rachel Kushner

Charisma does not originate inside the person called “charismatic.” It comes from the need of others to believe that special people exist.

The more education a person has, the more scare quotes they seem to use, and Bruno was no exception (and neither am I, even as I deplore this habit in others).

The not-so-literate and the hyper-literate both love quotation marks, while most people use them only to indicate, in written form, when someone is speaking.