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 12
... flesh . ' Alphabets of Flesh My back against barbed wire snagged and 12 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL Alphabets of Flesh.
... flesh . ' Alphabets of Flesh My back against barbed wire snagged and 12 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL Alphabets of Flesh.
Page 15
... flesh splinter and raze my page That out of the dumb and bleeding part of me I may claim my heritage . The green tree battened on despair cast free The green roots kindled to cacophony . of trouble writing that poem with the vision of ...
... flesh splinter and raze my page That out of the dumb and bleeding part of me I may claim my heritage . The green tree battened on despair cast free The green roots kindled to cacophony . of trouble writing that poem with the vision of ...
Page 176
... flesh ' from which the ' soul ' - the male beloved's life has been cleft . The language of dualism - flesh vs. soul , substance vs. sense - rises up to buttress the unequal divisions of gender . Lack- ing soul , the woman , mere flesh ...
... flesh ' from which the ' soul ' - the male beloved's life has been cleft . The language of dualism - flesh vs. soul , substance vs. sense - rises up to buttress the unequal divisions of gender . Lack- ing soul , the woman , mere flesh ...
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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