somewhat personal
May 3, 2024
Fixation
According to the Random House Learner’s Dictionary of American English © 2024 fixation is a preoccupation with one subject;
obsession.
More than ten years ago, in the span of two years, I received two separate comments about my writing, from two different people. ‘Your writing is provincial’. ‘Your writing is superficial’.
Provincial. It has since been branded on my mind. Fixated. To the point of obsession. I cannot stop asking myself in each paragraph, is this provincial? is this non-provincial? But then I wonder, what is provincial writing? What is provincial?
The dictionary is my friend again. Narrow-minded in outlook; unsophisticated. Having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province;
Rustic;
Narrow or illiberal;
Parochial.
No matter how many nice comments I have had about my texts, they always feel provincial. I have, though, come to terms with being superficial. I take it as easy to understand. A friend told me about my newsletter in Spanish; I’m paraphrasing, ’You take dull subjects and make them digestible, enjoyable.’ I would rather be superficial but enjoyable to read than deep, obscure, but ininteligible.
personal English