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 27
... side by side over a space of weeks , the two streams flowing on distinct sides of a page . Each house is a part of me . Or part of what I feel I must bear witness to . " House of a Thousand Doors , " the title poem of a book I published ...
... side by side over a space of weeks , the two streams flowing on distinct sides of a page . Each house is a part of me . Or part of what I feel I must bear witness to . " House of a Thousand Doors , " the title poem of a book I published ...
Page 81
... side by side with the postcolonial struggles for freedom . Even as the girlfriends I grew up with in Khartoum marched with men in the streets , de- manding a solution to the ' Southern Question , ' so those voices strengthened were ...
... side by side with the postcolonial struggles for freedom . Even as the girlfriends I grew up with in Khartoum marched with men in the streets , de- manding a solution to the ' Southern Question , ' so those voices strengthened were ...
Page 197
... side , who were followers of Gandhi . For several years they were in constant fear of imprisonment by the British . Of course colonialism has had an effect . The language I use , it has an edge for me , a subtle violence , I embrace ...
... side , who were followers of Gandhi . For several years they were in constant fear of imprisonment by the British . Of course colonialism has had an effect . The language I use , it has an edge for me , a subtle violence , I embrace ...
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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