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 12
... perhaps a deliberate dependency , revealing something of my childhood longings and fears , a community held in dream , a treasured orality ? For the rhythms of the language first came to me not just in lullabies or in the chatter of ...
... perhaps a deliberate dependency , revealing something of my childhood longings and fears , a community held in dream , a treasured orality ? For the rhythms of the language first came to me not just in lullabies or in the chatter of ...
Page 192
... Perhaps if I could , I would have her buried in soil , with delicate holes for breathing , so that cast into the earth she could emerge again , whole . But since this work is not overtly surreal in intent , I have her encounter an old ...
... Perhaps if I could , I would have her buried in soil , with delicate holes for breathing , so that cast into the earth she could emerge again , whole . But since this work is not overtly surreal in intent , I have her encounter an old ...
Page 195
... Perhaps I came to remember my life . D : You're mad ! At this she shakes her head a little , does a dance . My foot soles throb as I watch her . From the middle distance comes mu- sic , an unseen voice which sings of Draupadi's exile ...
... Perhaps I came to remember my life . D : You're mad ! At this she shakes her head a little , does a dance . My foot soles throb as I watch her . From the middle distance comes mu- sic , an unseen voice which sings of Draupadi's exile ...
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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