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 50
... Wall . I do not think it was a particularly good play . In fact , even as I wrote it , I was aware that in a piece that needed to work against language , use gestures , bodily motion , there were far too many words . In part , the play ...
... Wall . I do not think it was a particularly good play . In fact , even as I wrote it , I was aware that in a piece that needed to work against language , use gestures , bodily motion , there were far too many words . In part , the play ...
Page 96
... wall . The severe , formal folds in the fan meant that at any one point you only saw several bits of the surface and those , too , only for an instant , as any one part fell into its fragmentary concatenation . As the woman or child ...
... wall . The severe , formal folds in the fan meant that at any one point you only saw several bits of the surface and those , too , only for an instant , as any one part fell into its fragmentary concatenation . As the woman or child ...
Page 133
... wall and stony field I hear you now knocking at my door seeking entry . This room is framed by trees stones , walls , bare sky So blue it might be Delhi in winter all over again and by the open window your half - finished play For ...
... wall and stony field I hear you now knocking at my door seeking entry . This room is framed by trees stones , walls , bare sky So blue it might be Delhi in winter all over again and by the open window your half - finished play For ...
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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