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 51
... lines in my poem : Will it be hot like this on the other side of paradise ? Will the birth lines hold fast ? I sat at the edge of a large , overstuffed sofa , looking out at the bare windows and the flat terrace beyond . The performers ...
... lines in my poem : Will it be hot like this on the other side of paradise ? Will the birth lines hold fast ? I sat at the edge of a large , overstuffed sofa , looking out at the bare windows and the flat terrace beyond . The performers ...
Page 63
... line of fate to which one is attached , the scents of past lives flowing off the pages . I had a hard time with Fault Lines . Nightmares were part of my life as I composed it . I sensed very clearly that when I finished it , I too would ...
... line of fate to which one is attached , the scents of past lives flowing off the pages . I had a hard time with Fault Lines . Nightmares were part of my life as I composed it . I sensed very clearly that when I finished it , I too would ...
Page 69
... lines to a common , if shifting , social reality . Several years ago , I gave a poetry reading at Tufts Univer- sity with Marilyn Chin . I remember Marilyn reading her poem , " The Barbarians are Coming " : ' If you call me a horse , I ...
... lines to a common , if shifting , social reality . Several years ago , I gave a poetry reading at Tufts Univer- sity with Marilyn Chin . I remember Marilyn reading her poem , " The Barbarians are Coming " : ' If you call me a horse , I ...
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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