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 77
... a house held by its own weight in the mind's space Its elegant portico of polished teak tilting in heat As we seize a door with an ivory knob and come upon flames . look back at " Ashtamudi Lake " and think : Ashtamudi Lake 77.
... a house held by its own weight in the mind's space Its elegant portico of polished teak tilting in heat As we seize a door with an ivory knob and come upon flames . look back at " Ashtamudi Lake " and think : Ashtamudi Lake 77.
Page 85
... Look , this is a mountain . The day will come when we turn it into an Arab mountain . ' The issues of territory and selfhood become intertwined . Territoriality , then , in these postcolonial writings by women , becomes not just an ...
... Look , this is a mountain . The day will come when we turn it into an Arab mountain . ' The issues of territory and selfhood become intertwined . Territoriality , then , in these postcolonial writings by women , becomes not just an ...
Page 205
... look in . And sometimes I did , within the safe circle of my ayah's arms . ' But I heard other things as I turned seven , then eight . So- and - so's daughter has fallen into the well . And of course , she was pregnant . ' I was haunted ...
... look in . And sometimes I did , within the safe circle of my ayah's arms . ' But I heard other things as I turned seven , then eight . So- and - so's daughter has fallen into the well . And of course , she was pregnant . ' I was haunted ...
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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