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 33
Reflections on Postcolonial Experience Meena Alexander. Sidi Syed's Architecture I sometimes wonder what he was like Sidi ... Sometimes at night did fear catch hold , a shadow dragging its own robes ; water trapped in its own unutterable ...
Reflections on Postcolonial Experience Meena Alexander. Sidi Syed's Architecture I sometimes wonder what he was like Sidi ... Sometimes at night did fear catch hold , a shadow dragging its own robes ; water trapped in its own unutterable ...
Page 158
... sometimes painful , sometimes exhilarating disjunctions en- forced by such a residence on earth . ' Residence on earth ' - I use the phrase borrowed from the great poet , Pablo Neruda . It evokes for me plenitude , a rich flow of nature ...
... sometimes painful , sometimes exhilarating disjunctions en- forced by such a residence on earth . ' Residence on earth ' - I use the phrase borrowed from the great poet , Pablo Neruda . It evokes for me plenitude , a rich flow of nature ...
Page 195
... Sometimes Indian . I am al- ways marked in that way . How can I remember , you're wondering ? What can I re- member ? Everything that rushes in , settles in me , becomes the past . I write this as I can , naming things afresh . D : You ...
... Sometimes Indian . I am al- ways marked in that way . How can I remember , you're wondering ? What can I re- member ? Everything that rushes in , settles in me , becomes the past . I write this as I can , naming things afresh . D : You ...
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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