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 68
... Khartoum as a young girl , I could sometimes pass for Sudanese and this was always a comfort to me . Though deep down inside , borne within me like contraband , was the knowledge I was In- dian . That my grandparents lived in Kerala ...
... Khartoum as a young girl , I could sometimes pass for Sudanese and this was always a comfort to me . Though deep down inside , borne within me like contraband , was the knowledge I was In- dian . That my grandparents lived in Kerala ...
Page 81
... Khartoum . There was a civil war raging in the south of the Sudan , and students at the university who came from there would tell tales of torture and mutilation . As I left the Sudan to go to study in Britain I was well aware of the ...
... Khartoum . There was a civil war raging in the south of the Sudan , and students at the university who came from there would tell tales of torture and mutilation . As I left the Sudan to go to study in Britain I was well aware of the ...
Page 205
... Khartoum . One of the women spoke of the pleasure of drawing water from a well , how hot it was ' there ' , and the lines between the remembered worlds of Africa and India started to blur . I could see that the translator was not ...
... Khartoum . One of the women spoke of the pleasure of drawing water from a well , how hot it was ' there ' , and the lines between the remembered worlds of Africa and India started to blur . I could see that the translator was not ...
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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