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being a woman writer
Meena
Alexander believes that men and women cannot write the same
way because of their different experiences of life...
"Life
as it comes to me comes to me in a female body - so all the truths of my experience
are female truths. I mean I'm a writer just as anyone is a writer, male or female,
but the most intimate hum and flow and buzz of my body - just things like what
it means to wear a sari in a certain way, what it means to give birth, what it
means to menstruate, all of these are parts of the rhythm of my bodily life which
is female. Coupled with fact that, being raised as a girl child, I was taught
very clearly that I wasn't meant to write, wasn't meant to expose certain kinds
of experiences because that's not the sort of thing a woman did, so that was something
else I had to struggle with but I think in the end it makes you stronger."
Meena Alexander
For
a woman, talking about yourself was not appropriate, but as
a writer, her story was at the heart of her writing. As both
a woman and a migrant, Alexander has a need to break the silence
and make sure that her voice is heard. She describes how the
process of writing can give her a kind of identity, can make
sense of her past and give her life meaning:
It is the pain of no-one knowing my name
Links
Asian Women Writers Site
Post Colonial Studies at Emory University
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