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 65
... walk and what happens with the heart can give one pause . Once , in a small writing workshop for students at a prestig ... walking on country roads where no other people of color are to be seen ? My fear of coming across men in army ...
... walk and what happens with the heart can give one pause . Once , in a small writing workshop for students at a prestig ... walking on country roads where no other people of color are to be seen ? My fear of coming across men in army ...
Page 144
... walking , reading Cesaire's lines as I walked : ' Tout ce qui jamais fut dechiré en moi s'est dechiré tout ce qui jamais fut mutilé en moi s'est mutilé . ' ( All that was ever torn / is torn in me / All that was ever mu- tilated / is ...
... walking , reading Cesaire's lines as I walked : ' Tout ce qui jamais fut dechiré en moi s'est dechiré tout ce qui jamais fut mutilé en moi s'est mutilé . ' ( All that was ever torn / is torn in me / All that was ever mu- tilated / is ...
Page 145
... walking , ap- proaching the river wall where the Hudson flows , I feel very , very old and ever so new at the same ... walk in the dense irregularity of the city . Learn to delight in the sharp , synchronic music , rare fractals the ...
... walking , ap- proaching the river wall where the Hudson flows , I feel very , very old and ever so new at the same ... walk in the dense irregularity of the city . Learn to delight in the sharp , synchronic music , rare fractals the ...
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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