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 155
... girl , engages Europeans in a mutual , incomprehensible gaze . In Evening Stroll / Night Patrol , a European couple gazes in at her house , while she holds up a Mickey Mouse doll for them . The doll stares back at the gazing couple . In ...
... girl , engages Europeans in a mutual , incomprehensible gaze . In Evening Stroll / Night Patrol , a European couple gazes in at her house , while she holds up a Mickey Mouse doll for them . The doll stares back at the gazing couple . In ...
Page 184
... girls to have some sign on their person as a warning to every young man that no evil eye might be cast upon them , and as a lesson to every girl that no one dare assail their purity . The passionate Ravana could not so much as touch ...
... girls to have some sign on their person as a warning to every young man that no evil eye might be cast upon them , and as a lesson to every girl that no one dare assail their purity . The passionate Ravana could not so much as touch ...
Page 200
... girl , her thin shoulders hunched on the green - hooded bed , eyes buried in her face as the other , her sister surely , lies down to concentrate better , hair spread out , body massed on the bed , shielded by green covers , reading ...
... girl , her thin shoulders hunched on the green - hooded bed , eyes buried in her face as the other , her sister surely , lies down to concentrate better , hair spread out , body massed on the bed , shielded by green covers , reading ...
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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