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 50
... play which I called Woman Building Wall . I do not think it was a particularly good play . In fact , even as I wrote it , I was aware that in a piece that needed to work against language , use gestures , bodily motion , there were far ...
... play which I called Woman Building Wall . I do not think it was a particularly good play . In fact , even as I wrote it , I was aware that in a piece that needed to work against language , use gestures , bodily motion , there were far ...
Page 133
... player hundred armed Clubbed and ringed : how tight you held the door so others might race over wall and stony field I hear you now knocking at my door ... play For Safdar Hashmi 133 For Safdar Hashmi Beaten to Death Just Outside Delhi.
... player hundred armed Clubbed and ringed : how tight you held the door so others might race over wall and stony field I hear you now knocking at my door ... play For Safdar Hashmi 133 For Safdar Hashmi Beaten to Death Just Outside Delhi.
Page 193
... play the parts of women , with both male and female characters drawn from ancient mythology . This male dancer plays the part of Draupadi , wife to the five Pandavas , heroine of the Mahabharata , exiled from her homeland . Only half of ...
... play the parts of women , with both male and female characters drawn from ancient mythology . This male dancer plays the part of Draupadi , wife to the five Pandavas , heroine of the Mahabharata , exiled from her homeland . Only half of ...
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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