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 64
... speak Spanish , a Latina . Other times I have gone down the streets , unaccompanied , and been asked , often by ... speak , ' a young woman of South Asian origin is told , a woman in her twenties , utterly American I would have thought ...
... speak Spanish , a Latina . Other times I have gone down the streets , unaccompanied , and been asked , often by ... speak , ' a young woman of South Asian origin is told , a woman in her twenties , utterly American I would have thought ...
Page 156
... speak for myself , who will speak for me ? ' we ask , as we confront these images . And how shall I speak for my- self without memory - my memory and the memories of my peo- ple , however dispersed , however distanced ? It seems to me ...
... speak for myself , who will speak for me ? ' we ask , as we confront these images . And how shall I speak for my- self without memory - my memory and the memories of my peo- ple , however dispersed , however distanced ? It seems to me ...
Page 200
... soul . ' As I speak , I see her listen silently , dancer , muse , dark , di- vided double . Together we mark the quick step of marginality . Aftermath : Title Search was speaking on the phone to 200 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
... soul . ' As I speak , I see her listen silently , dancer , muse , dark , di- vided double . Together we mark the quick step of marginality . Aftermath : Title Search was speaking on the phone to 200 The SHOCK OF ARRIVAL.
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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