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". |
From inside the book
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Page 61
... that bore them up a good half inch above the earth And in the empty hold of air whispers of children born into this garden . TRANSLATING VIOLENCE Bordering Ourselves ' She says to herself if Coda from Night - Scene 61.
... that bore them up a good half inch above the earth And in the empty hold of air whispers of children born into this garden . TRANSLATING VIOLENCE Bordering Ourselves ' She says to herself if Coda from Night - Scene 61.
Page 107
... into a child's undershirt . Our eyes dilate in the grey light of cities that hold no common speech for us , no bread , no bowl , no leavening . At day's close we cluster amidst the nylon and acrylic The Storm : A Poem in Five Parts 107.
... into a child's undershirt . Our eyes dilate in the grey light of cities that hold no common speech for us , no bread , no bowl , no leavening . At day's close we cluster amidst the nylon and acrylic The Storm : A Poem in Five Parts 107.
Page 170
... hold to- gether in the requirements of an established aesthetic . Then , too , she is conscious of working with materials that have no pre- viously sanctioned place , either in her own traditional society or in the formalities of a ...
... hold to- gether in the requirements of an established aesthetic . Then , too , she is conscious of working with materials that have no pre- viously sanctioned place , either in her own traditional society or in the formalities of a ...
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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