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 117
... stop breathing . The sky was very clear that day , and there were waterlilies by the edge of the water , utterly untouched by bits of metal , hu- man flesh and blood in the lake . Waterlilies the color of sulphur . The old man shut his ...
... stop breathing . The sky was very clear that day , and there were waterlilies by the edge of the water , utterly untouched by bits of metal , hu- man flesh and blood in the lake . Waterlilies the color of sulphur . The old man shut his ...
Page 130
... stop up his or her speech , censor , shred , ban . It also implies the literal from which we try to avert our eyes : kill , maim , destroy the living body . Those who have called for the murder of Rushdie have now said : ' It might be ...
... stop up his or her speech , censor , shred , ban . It also implies the literal from which we try to avert our eyes : kill , maim , destroy the living body . Those who have called for the murder of Rushdie have now said : ' It might be ...
Page 205
... stop me , I launched into a little tale . I spoke of how as a child I had spent summer months in my grandparental home in coastal Ker- ala , a place of so much water , so many wells , in sharp contrast to the austerities of sky and sand ...
... stop me , I launched into a little tale . I spoke of how as a child I had spent summer months in my grandparental home in coastal Ker- ala , a place of so much water , so many wells , in sharp contrast to the austerities of sky and sand ...
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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