Meena alexander has published six volumes of poetry including quckly changing river 2008, illiterate heart 2002, winner of the pen open book award, and raw silk 2004. She achieved the cohesive design of content and form in her psychological poems and novels and brings a thought provoking harmony over different streams of. Professor alexander was recently interviewed by saket suman, of the statesman, a major indian newspaper. Dog days of summer by meena alexander poetry foundation. The graduate center, the city university of new york established in 1961, the graduate center of the city university of new york cuny is devoted primarily to doctoral studies and awards most of cunys doctoral degrees. Meena alexanders illiterate heart and quickly changing. In the united states, alexanders first book of poetry. The academy of american poets is the largest membershipbased nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. In the writings of meena alexander these experiences are prominent.
After a poetry reading, she is asked what kind of house she would make out of her poetry. While meena alexanders volume is definitely richer on the wherethepagefallsopen measure, this selection of recent poets is certainly a worthwhile collection for one familiar with indian poetry in english. Atmospheric embroidery by meena alexander, paperback. In this collection, meena alexander gives us an atlas of poems, a book threaded with the silk of her life experience. Like many of meena alexanders poems, the storm is largely about. A postcolonial journey in the poems of meena alexander. Atmospheric embroidery took shape during her stay at the indian institute for advanced study in shimla, according to dr. Meena alexander poems poems of meena alexander poem. Place and memory in meena alexanders memoir and poems. She is the editor of indian love poems 2005 and name me a word. Meena alexanders poetry reflects her multicultural heritage and the tension it creates. From the real to the mythical to the fantastical, meena alexander takes the reader to vivid and unusual places.
Her volume of poems atmospheric embroidery triquarterly booksnorthwestern u press and the anthology she edited name me a word. Indian love poems is a unique gathering of poems from across more than two and a half millennia that attempts to catalog the disordered ecstasies of love, ranging from the kama sutra and earlier works up to presentday india and the poets of the indian diaspora. A critique of meena alexanders autobiography in fault. She now lives in new york city, where she is a distinguished professor of english at hunter college and the graduate center at the city university of new york. Theres no monetary reward for poetry, but the reward, i think, is a kind of grace, a clarification of the everyday. Three specific metaphors that are dealt with throughout this. Meena alexander has two new books forthcoming in 2018. Described as undoubtedly one of the finest poets of contemporary times by the statesman india, she was the author of numerous collections of poetry, including atmospheric embroidery 2018, birthplace with buried stones 20, and. Meena alexander is an awardwinning poet and the author of the memoir fault lines. I have just modified 6 external links on meena alexander. A few more notes on my fall from the middle everything is broken by sharon kessler elegy by patricia smith regrets number 191.
Universe a united nations of poetry meena alexander. One of her latest poems, kochi by the sea, appears in the february 12 and 19 edition of the new yorker and you can hear alexander read her poem on the the new yorker website. At five years of age, alexander and her family moved to the sudan, where she attended. Meena alexanders house of a thousand doors september 22, 2014 rukhaya 0 comments.
A deeply moving collection from a poet who crosses borders new york city poet meena alexander was born in allahabad, india and divided her childhood between india and the sudan. Mary wollstonecraft, dorothy wordsworth and mary shelley meena alexander auth. Critical essays on meena alexander, we explore the ways in which alexander transforms the intimate genres of the lyric and the memoir to forms that further her project of poetry as public activism. Meena alexander explores in a house of a thousand doors the effects of colonization and exploitation and what lies between the surface of lives. There, in folded space, we must have met by rommel delirium, malibu 2016 by meena alexander. Diasporic experience in the poetry of meena alexander. C this article has been rated as cclass on the projects quality scale. To use her own words, this book is alphabets burnt so the truth can be tolda book of singing griefa book of reeds vanishing as light pours through. Fault lines analysis when the average person looks upon their past, they usually recall memories and facts that categorize them into a predefined group of people. Professor meena alexander, of the graduate writing program, has just had her latest book of poems, atmospheric embroidery, published in india. Alexander, poetics of dislocation 4 abstract in the criticism, prose, poetry, and interviews from 19832009 that constitute meena alexanders book poetics of.
The storm, a poem in five parts l989 and nightscene, the garden l992. Meena alexander was an internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, and writer. At the age of fifteen, she officially changed her name to meena. Faultlines a journey through meena alexanders life, conflicts and adjustments with the host society as a result of multiple dislocations conference paper pdf available april 2014 with. It has also to do with the kind of shelter that poets can make with words. Meena alexander reads three poems from her new collection. She is distinguished professor of english at hunter college and the graduate center cuny. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.
If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple faq for additional information. In the introduction to her latest collection of poems lifeon my side of the street and other poems, daruwalla calls her poems lyrical and meditative at the same time and draws the reader. Pdf meena alexander and american identity stephanie han. Nov 21, 2018 meena alexander was an internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, and writer.
When she was eighteen she went to study in england. Home archives reading room search editorial info books subscribe west links winter 1998, volume 15. One of her latest poems, kochi by the sea, appears in the february 12 and 19 edition of the new yorker and you can hear alexander read her poem on. Meena alexander was born in allahabad, india, raised in india and sudan. Two poems, by meena alexander world literature today. Distinguished professor meena alexander gchunter, english has been called undoubtedly one of the finest poets in contemporary times. Pdf exploring liminal images in meena alexanders poems. Ramanujan love poems, he says, are not easy to write because theyve all been written before. A poignant rendition written with clarity of thought and mind.
Echoes of otherness in the selected poems of meena alexander. Search our extensive curated collection of over 10,000 poems by occasion, theme, and form, or search by keyword or poets name in the field below. Although christened mary elizabeth, she has been called meena since birth. At the beginning of poetics of dislocation, meena alexander provides a telling anecdote. Meena alexander indian poet and teacher britannica. Poetics of dislocation sets the work of contemporary american poetry within the streams of migration that have made the nation what it is in the twentyfirst century. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. From her crosscultural perspective, alexander writes with moving intensity of postseptember 11 events as she evokes violence and civil strife, love, despair, and a. Seldom can a person not find some sense of belonging in their lives, whether it be belonging to a culture, to a. Meena alexanders house of a thousand doors september 22, 2014 rukhaya 0 comments meena alexander explores in a house of a thousand doors the effects of colonization and exploitation and what lies between the surface of lives. Meena alexander reads three poems from her new collection, atmospheric embroidery, published by northwestern university press in june.
Indian love poems by meena alexander, 9781400042258, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. She waits for the right image and word to capture the same. Discovering the autobiographical elements hidden in raw silk metaphors. Faultlines a journey through meena alexanders life, conflicts and.
Professor meena alexanders latest book of poems published in. Sep 18, 2017 poem hunter all poems of by meena alexander poems. This segment first aired on cuny tvs study with the best, august 23, 2015. Meena alexander, indian poet and teacher whose works reflect her multicultural life in india, sudan, and the united states. While her poetry might be her bestknown work, her works span a variety of literary genres.
Indian love poems everymans library pocket poets by. Because thats what poetry is really bound to, the stuff of our lives. To meena alexander, the question of home is bound with a migrant memory and the way that poetry permits a dwelling at the edge of the world poem out of place 1. Pdf faultlines a journey through meena alexanders life. She achieved the cohesive design of content and form in her psychological poems and novels and brings a thought provoking harmony over different streams of feeling and sensibility found in the different settings of human. Described as undoubtedly one of the finest poets of contemporary times by the statesman india, she was the author. She is a professor of english at hunter college and lives in new york city. Meena alexanders illiterate heart and quickly changing river.
Indian love poems everymans library pocket poets by meena. Alexander gives a very good introducation, discussing her rationale for the choices,including not only poems in translation and very good translation but also indian poetry in english, which is after all one of the languages of modern day india. Professor meena alexanders poetry is in the new yorker. Meena alexanders literary career began early, at the tender age of ten, when she began writing poetry. New york city poet meena alexander was born in allahabad, india and divided her childhood between india and the sudan. Jul 29, 2004 new york city poet meena alexander was born in allahabad, india and divided her childhood between india and the sudan. Meena alexander 17 february 1951 21 november 2018 was an indian poet, scholar, and writer. Her memoir fault lines 1993, expanded edition 2003 was picked by publishers weekly as one of the best books of the year. A notebook is not a foreign country by meena alexander. Her poetry publications include stone roots l980, house of a thousand doors l988 and two long poems. Her first book, a single lengthy poem, entitled the birds bright wing, was published in 1976 in calcutta.
Born in allahabad, india, and raised in india and sudan, alexander lived and worked in new york city, where she was distinguished professor of english at hunter college and at the cuny graduate center in the phd program in english. Meena alexander was born in allahabad, india, on february 17, 1951. Anna sujatha mathai writes about the poem mysteriously. Described as undoubtedly one of the finest poets of contemporary times by the statesman india, she was the author of numerous collections of poetry. Meena alexanders autobiography essay by papernerd contributor, college, undergraduate, september 2001 download word file, 2 pages download word file, 2 pages 0.
Each thing rings its turn you sang in my ear a slip of a thing. Poetics of dislocation university of michigan press. There are few poets better qualified to muse on that context than meena alexander, who spent her life studying at prestigious institutions around the globe before settling in the united states to work on her acclaimed body of poetry. The journey of a homebound pilgrim aditi jana vidyasagar university, west bengal, india abstract meena alexander is an emerging indianenglish poet.
Professor meena alexanders latest book of poems published. She has published several volumes of poetry and been widely. Iyengar includes her with other poets like sunita jain, rina sodhi and meena alexander in his comprehensive study of indian writing in english 728. Meena alexander was born in allahabad, india, in 1951. From her crosscultural perspective, alexander writes with moving intensity of postseptember 11 events as she evokes violence and civil strife, love, despair, and a hardwon hope. With motifs of birds and flight, intermingling with fire, atmospheric embroidery warbles and smolders in surprising and memorable ways. My arti cle addresses precisely the relation between geography and writing in meena. She earned a ba at khartoum university and a phd at nottingham university. Meena alexander is one of the most brilliant and subtle writer who has described the meeting of eastern and western culture. Each thing rings its turn, you sang in my ear, a slip of a thing. Meena alexander is an eminent poet and one of the finest thinkers of asian american aesthetics. Phenomenal woman, the road not taken, if you forget me, dreams, annabel lee. Katrak hails meena alexander, one such south asian immigrant writer as a poet and one of the finest thinkers of asian american aesthetic. Her poetry collections include atmospheric embroidery triquarterly books, 2018.
An expanded version of atmospheric embroidery is forthcoming from triquarterly books northwestern university press in spring 2018. This article is within the scope of wikiproject biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize wikipedia s articles about people. Born in allahabad, india, poet meena alexander was raised in kerala and sudan. A profile of poet and literary scholar meena alexander. An internationally recognized center for advanced studies and a national model for public doctoral education, the graduate center offers more than thirty doctoral programs in. Alexanders poetry and essay collections the shock of arrival 1996 and. Poems and prose pieces is a collection of fiftynine poems and prose pieces.
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