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 69
... Drawing on her knowledge , one can reflect on a fe- male body crossing the domestic border , entering public space ... draw the hard power of naming , and of being named as Other , into the seams of the present . After the reading , as ...
... Drawing on her knowledge , one can reflect on a fe- male body crossing the domestic border , entering public space ... draw the hard power of naming , and of being named as Other , into the seams of the present . After the reading , as ...
Page 70
... drawing me toward the window . When we were safely out of earshot of the others , she pointed at my sari : ' Can you ... draw off the six yards of silk I had draped over my body , wheaten - colored silk , a gift from my mother in India ...
... drawing me toward the window . When we were safely out of earshot of the others , she pointed at my sari : ' Can you ... draw off the six yards of silk I had draped over my body , wheaten - colored silk , a gift from my mother in India ...
Page 159
... draws on as she grows up ? Where will her art find its place ? Next I see the child pick up a piece of fruit , a stone , a bit of charcoal and start to rearrange ... draw this space around yourself , ' she says , ' The Shock of Arrival 159.
... draws on as she grows up ? Where will her art find its place ? Next I see the child pick up a piece of fruit , a stone , a bit of charcoal and start to rearrange ... draw this space around yourself , ' she says , ' The Shock of Arrival 159.
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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