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 18
... small and grey blinded by an eagle's claw it dashed its head against the Coromandel rock . The bleeding head hung on by a sinew or two as the maimed bird IV . struck and struck again then turned to rise 18 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
... small and grey blinded by an eagle's claw it dashed its head against the Coromandel rock . The bleeding head hung on by a sinew or two as the maimed bird IV . struck and struck again then turned to rise 18 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
Page 88
... rock black rock to have Or hold at heart the driven self near sightless As hands split bread and strip the desert rose . Estrangement Becomes the Mark of the Eagle II . We 88 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
... rock black rock to have Or hold at heart the driven self near sightless As hands split bread and strip the desert rose . Estrangement Becomes the Mark of the Eagle II . We 88 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
Page 192
... rock and sees her own face , quivering in the water . The recognition startles her . She is free then , to move on , into the city , quickly . The last word of the sentence , that adverb , is some- thing I had stored in my head , for ...
... rock and sees her own face , quivering in the water . The recognition startles her . She is free then , to move on , into the city , quickly . The last word of the sentence , that adverb , is some- thing I had stored in my head , for ...
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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