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 31
... hair shows . Hair acrid as salt . Newspapers are tucked in under her jacket . I see their rims , wasted with cold , fluttering . She kneels on the icy ground , and rocks back and forth . A weird rocking creature . The blanket sags over ...
... hair shows . Hair acrid as salt . Newspapers are tucked in under her jacket . I see their rims , wasted with cold , fluttering . She kneels on the icy ground , and rocks back and forth . A weird rocking creature . The blanket sags over ...
Page 49
... hair burst out in a phosphorescence that forced my eyes shut . That night she invaded my dreams . Each coil of her hair was a living snake . A fierce and desolate power filled her mouth . Her mouth with all the unsaid words inside , was ...
... hair burst out in a phosphorescence that forced my eyes shut . That night she invaded my dreams . Each coil of her hair was a living snake . A fierce and desolate power filled her mouth . Her mouth with all the unsaid words inside , was ...
Page 206
... hair hovering over the mouth , black hair blown back over the mouth in monsoon winds ; four - year - old children playing hopscotch , then swooped above ground on a wooden swing , hair brushing the branches of the love apple tree ...
... hair hovering over the mouth , black hair blown back over the mouth in monsoon winds ; four - year - old children playing hopscotch , then swooped above ground on a wooden swing , hair brushing the branches of the love apple tree ...
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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