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 66
... street , of my identity , mold me . Appearing in the flesh , I am cast afresh , a female of color - skin color , hair texture , clothing , speech , all marking me in ways that I could scarcely have conceived of . And there is a febrile ...
... street , of my identity , mold me . Appearing in the flesh , I am cast afresh , a female of color - skin color , hair texture , clothing , speech , all marking me in ways that I could scarcely have conceived of . And there is a febrile ...
Page 67
... street can see my mother said to me . I sit in a dark room a small lamp beside me how should I write these lines without a light , how should I see ? I asked myself not knowing that the street had such a vision of my woman's soul as I ...
... street can see my mother said to me . I sit in a dark room a small lamp beside me how should I write these lines without a light , how should I see ? I asked myself not knowing that the street had such a vision of my woman's soul as I ...
Page 155
... Street , the canvas is split between the image of a Chinese prostitute , her face downcast , walking down a San Francisco street at the turn of the century and an image from the Tang era , an imperial concubine . In her bold replication ...
... Street , the canvas is split between the image of a Chinese prostitute , her face downcast , walking down a San Francisco street at the turn of the century and an image from the Tang era , an imperial concubine . In her bold replication ...
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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