The Shock of Arrival: Reflections on Postcolonial ExperienceSouth End Press, 1996 - 223 pages In this book, acclaimed South Asian American poet and novelist Meena Alexander unleashes a fury of prose and poetry to confront the stereotypes and explore the challenges facing postcolonial immigrants in America. Commenting on the history of memory, language, shame, and exile, Alexander poignantly describes the wealth of experiences and imaginings that have shaped her life and writing. Her project: "to make space for what was crossed out in the decorum of femininity, in the high places of classical hierarchy, in the racism of a canonical knowledge, in the obliterations of a national memory ... all this is part of our task, part of the violent, fractured worlds that we must etch into beauty". |
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Page 79
... India on December 6 , 1992 and the way in which Hindu ex- tremism has coarsened the very fabric of the nation , the ways in which tiny ripples from that violent eruption worked into the di- asporic community here . On a cold , damp day ...
... India on December 6 , 1992 and the way in which Hindu ex- tremism has coarsened the very fabric of the nation , the ways in which tiny ripples from that violent eruption worked into the di- asporic community here . On a cold , damp day ...
Page 172
... Indian politics , ' the Nightingale of India , ' had fallen on hard times . In the ' 70s , in the small world of Indian poetry written in English , her poetry was held to be of little account , even though her politi- cal contribution ...
... Indian politics , ' the Nightingale of India , ' had fallen on hard times . In the ' 70s , in the small world of Indian poetry written in English , her poetry was held to be of little account , even though her politi- cal contribution ...
Page 177
... India as mother struck a deep vein in the culture . Punya bhumi ( blessed earth ) and Bharat mata ( mother India ) were linked together for poet and audience . The mother was sacred , potent , terrible to her foes when awoken . In a ...
... India as mother struck a deep vein in the culture . Punya bhumi ( blessed earth ) and Bharat mata ( mother India ) were linked together for poet and audience . The mother was sacred , potent , terrible to her foes when awoken . In a ...
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aesthetic America artist Ashtamudi Lake Asian Asian-American art Balamaniamma bits blood born breath British burning child cloth colonialism cried culture dance dark death decolonization Delhi dharma Draupadi dream earth edge English eyes face feminine fierce figure filled fire flesh forced Frantz Fanon Gandhi garden girl hair hands Hashmi head Hyderabad imagination India Kathakali Kerala Khartoum Lalithambika language light lines living Malayalam maternal Meena Alexander memory mother mouth Native American never painted Parasurama passion poem poet poetry political postcolonial published river rock Safdar Hashmi San Andreas Fault sari Sarojini Naidu sense sexual shock of arrival Sita skin Skin Song snow Song soul space speak speech stone street struggle tell Tethi Thankam things thought tion Tiruvella tongue torn trees turned Vasco da Gama violence voice walking wall window woman words writing young