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 64
... young woman who I shall call Rumana , though that's not her name . Her name does not matter , but she might be you or I. What she went through matters terribly . Rumana had to figure out how to live her life after that episode . How to ...
... young woman who I shall call Rumana , though that's not her name . Her name does not matter , but she might be you or I. What she went through matters terribly . Rumana had to figure out how to live her life after that episode . How to ...
Page 70
... young woman came up to me . She beckoned , drawing me toward the 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 ...
... young woman came up to me . She beckoned , drawing me toward the 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 ...
Page 184
... young men . Presumably , the teasing was sexual in nature . Gandhi as narrator does not go into details . None seem necessary to him . His direct allusion to the Ramayana and the well - worn image of Sita's inviolable pu- rity are used ...
... young men . Presumably , the teasing was sexual in nature . Gandhi as narrator does not go into details . None seem necessary to him . His direct allusion to the Ramayana and the well - worn image of Sita's inviolable pu- rity are used ...
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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