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 16
... asked me : ' But why the bird image ? Where does it come from ? How does it fit ? It seems different , really . ' ' I don't know . I think it was my way of conveying the inten- sity , ' I replied . Now I think back , that's it : I ...
... asked me : ' But why the bird image ? Where does it come from ? How does it fit ? It seems different , really . ' ' I don't know . I think it was my way of conveying the inten- sity , ' I replied . Now I think back , that's it : I ...
Page 64
... asked , often by people I took to be from the South Asian diaspora : ' Where are you from ? Guy- ana ? Trinidad ... asked for their land of origin whereas a young man or woman of European origin would never be asked 64 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
... asked , often by people I took to be from the South Asian diaspora : ' Where are you from ? Guy- ana ? Trinidad ... asked for their land of origin whereas a young man or woman of European origin would never be asked 64 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
Page 66
... asked in the street , of my identity , mold me . Appearing in the flesh , I am cast afresh , a female of color - skin color , hair texture , clothing , speech , all marking me in ways that I could scarcely have conceived of . And there ...
... asked in the street , of my identity , mold me . Appearing in the flesh , I am cast afresh , a female of color - skin color , hair texture , clothing , speech , all marking me in ways that I could scarcely have conceived of . And there ...
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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