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 49
... mouth with all the unsaid words inside , was burning up the snow . O palimpsest of memory , I wanted to cry : what ... mouths bubbling prayers . The poet's head smokes . Al- phabets are ablaze . After this terror , the Coda to the poem ...
... mouth with all the unsaid words inside , was burning up the snow . O palimpsest of memory , I wanted to cry : what ... mouths bubbling prayers . The poet's head smokes . Al- phabets are ablaze . After this terror , the Coda to the poem ...
Page 122
... mouth than she saw another behind him , neck askew . She noticed the heavy object this other held was a head , his own head . Out of the mouth , and out of holes for the eyes , came smoke . || . ' Why is he here ? ' she whispered ...
... mouth than she saw another behind him , neck askew . She noticed the heavy object this other held was a head , his own head . Out of the mouth , and out of holes for the eyes , came smoke . || . ' Why is he here ? ' she whispered ...
Page 206
... mouth in monsoon winds ; four - year - old children playing hopscotch , then swooped above ground on a wooden swing ... mouths dribbling milk . And in the courtyard of a Kerala house I see worlds filled with women , women riding ...
... mouth in monsoon winds ; four - year - old children playing hopscotch , then swooped above ground on a wooden swing ... mouths dribbling milk . And in the courtyard of a Kerala house I see worlds filled with women , women riding ...
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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