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 2
... souls , two thoughts ... in one dark body . ' But now , at the tail end of the century , perhaps there are many souls , many voices in one dark body . And how does this consciousness work , here , now , for an Indian woman ? What ...
... souls , two thoughts ... in one dark body . ' But now , at the tail end of the century , perhaps there are many souls , many voices in one dark body . And how does this consciousness work , here , now , for an Indian woman ? What ...
Page 67
... soul as I should scarcely understand . Now I know my hands grow cold and sight spills out of me . Pet erhaps I should have said ' body ' instead of ' soul ' I now think , but then I correct myself . It is woman as prisoner of her sex ...
... soul as I should scarcely understand . Now I know my hands grow cold and sight spills out of me . Pet erhaps I should have said ' body ' instead of ' soul ' I now think , but then I correct myself . It is woman as prisoner of her sex ...
Page 176
... soul ' - the male beloved's life has been cleft . The language of dualism - flesh vs. soul , substance vs. sense - rises up to buttress the unequal divisions of gender . Lack- ing soul , the woman , mere flesh , must die . This poem is ...
... soul ' - the male beloved's life has been cleft . The language of dualism - flesh vs. soul , substance vs. sense - rises up to buttress the unequal divisions of gender . Lack- ing soul , the woman , mere flesh , must die . This poem is ...
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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