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 70
... window . When we were safely out of earshot of the others , she pointed at my sari : ' Can you really wear that here ? ' ' Why not ? ' Out of the corner of my eye , I saw the window- pane . Sunlight gleaming on the polished wood , but ...
... window . When we were safely out of earshot of the others , she pointed at my sari : ' Can you really wear that here ? ' ' Why not ? ' Out of the corner of my eye , I saw the window- pane . Sunlight gleaming on the polished wood , but ...
Page 137
... window as a parrot might or on the tip of the candle flame as the candle burns on the windowsill . Imagined beings haunt me , a bird with green feathers filling the winter window . A bird in a bush Cried out to her in a tongue no one ...
... window as a parrot might or on the tip of the candle flame as the candle burns on the windowsill . Imagined beings haunt me , a bird with green feathers filling the winter window . A bird in a bush Cried out to her in a tongue no one ...
Page 159
... window , a crawl space , somewhere near the edge of the earth . But it is there for her , magically , and it changes the nature of reality . As for her installa- tion , the stone , the piece of fruit , the charcoal she has arranged ...
... window , a crawl space , somewhere near the edge of the earth . But it is there for her , magically , and it changes the nature of reality . As for her installa- tion , the stone , the piece of fruit , the charcoal she has arranged ...
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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