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 51
... started when I got up , nervous beyond belief . ' How can you possibly understand this ? I mean without having seen that house , that well . ' I heard my words echoing , collapsing . Barbara tried to reassure me , but the sandy ...
... started when I got up , nervous beyond belief . ' How can you possibly understand this ? I mean without having seen that house , that well . ' I heard my words echoing , collapsing . Barbara tried to reassure me , but the sandy ...
Page 144
... started to walk . Something was wet underfoot . A stream of water , swelling . The gutters were flooding . As I walked on , the water drained away and I saw the Hudson , risen to the edge of its banks , grey water lapping . Memory ...
... started to walk . Something was wet underfoot . A stream of water , swelling . The gutters were flooding . As I walked on , the water drained away and I saw the Hudson , risen to the edge of its banks , grey water lapping . Memory ...
Page 172
... started talking with a filmmaker friend about a script of her life . My first book of po- etry , a cycle of poems , had come out the previous year and I was struck by the words of a reviewer : ' lyrical , in the Sarojini Naidu vein ...
... started talking with a filmmaker friend about a script of her life . My first book of po- etry , a cycle of poems , had come out the previous year and I was struck by the words of a reviewer : ' lyrical , in the Sarojini Naidu vein ...
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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