Background
Alan Stewart Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Natal Province, a former British colony that is now part of the Republic of South Africa, on January 11, 1903. He was the son of a minor civil servant.
(This is a collection of 70 poems, short stories, articles...)
This is a collection of 70 poems, short stories, articles and speeches. With three exceptions, none have previously been published in the United States; about a third of the pieces first appear here. Chronologically arranged, they are divided into sections corresponding to Paton's life interests: penal reform, literature and opposition to apartheid, first within, and then outside the Liberal Party. "One is struck by the strong resemblance in certain particulars to writers and intellectual witnesses like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and George Orwell." (The New York Times)
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(Dramatizes the public and private lives of contemporary S...)
Dramatizes the public and private lives of contemporary South Africa, tracing the multifarious reactions of the human spirit to life in a racially divided society and perceptively sketching heroes, victims, and the self-absorbed ordinary citizen
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( Get your "A" in gear! They're today's most popular stu...)
Get your "A" in gear! They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. SparkNotes' motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because: · They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts. · They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them. · The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time. And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!
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(This world-renowned writer views the spiritual dilemmas o...)
This world-renowned writer views the spiritual dilemmas of twentieth-century man and offers his affirmation of Christian faith
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(SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELIST'S BIOGRAPHY OF GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN...)
SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELIST'S BIOGRAPHY OF GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN LEADER JAN HOFMEYR
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(The renowned South African novelist offers the second vol...)
The renowned South African novelist offers the second volume of his autobiography, focusing on the horrors of apartheid, the ongoing battle against the South African government and the necessity of a rational solution
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(The American Film Theater's Lost in the Stars transforms ...)
The American Film Theater's Lost in the Stars transforms Alan Paton's world famous novel of racial oppression, Cruy of the Beloved Country, into a tragic and beautiful film musical unlike any you've ever seen. Gilded by Kirt Weill's (Threepenny Opera) lucid lyrics and powerful music, and guided by Daniel Mann's (Playing for Time) sensitive direction, this one-of-a-kind film is both a heartbreaking indictment of a cruel society and a poetic testament to the millions of forgotten lives ground beneath the heel of apartheid. Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird) is Stephen Kumalo, a black South African minister searching the unfamiliar back alleyss shanty towns of Johannesburg for his son, Absalom. But Kumalo's unwavering faith is put to the test when he finds Absalom in jail facing a capital murder charge. Courage, dignity and sacrifice fall prey to the whirlwind of racist hypocrisy and hollow justice in Absalom's trial. Absalom's reunion and reconciliation with hsi father, his jailhouse marriage to his pregnant sweetheart Irina (Melba Moore), and his heroic determination to tell the truth no matter the cost set the stage for a tragic climax of both epic proportion and documentary immediacy. Peters, whom Weill declared, "one of the greatest voices of American theatre," delivers a flawlessly moving performance. Singing the title song, "Lost in the Stars," in an empty church to which he will never return, Kumalo's agony offers spiritual richness in place of poverty and human grace in place of prejudice, even as his heart becomes another casualty of vicous ethnic hatred.
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(TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE is set in South Africa, as well as...)
TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE is set in South Africa, as well as its predecessor, CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY. And like that earlier novel, TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE uses the lives of ordinary people to illustrate the inhuman quality of South African apartheid. Racial segregation is odious in concept, impossible in application. To prove it, Paton tells us the story of Pieter, a white policeman, who has an affair with a native girl. He is betrayed and reported, and thus brings shame on himself and his family.
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(The author of Cry, the Beloved Country describes his deve...)
The author of Cry, the Beloved Country describes his development as a writer and traces the beginnings of his awareness of the injustices of his native South Africa to his years as principal of Diepkloof, a reformatory for young Blacks
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Alan Stewart Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Natal Province, a former British colony that is now part of the Republic of South Africa, on January 11, 1903. He was the son of a minor civil servant.
After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed by a diploma in education.
Among the more significant awards Paton received were doctorates in literature from Kenyon College (1962), Natal University (1968), and Harvard University (1971), a doctorate in literature and the humanities from Yale University (1954).
At this time Paton began writing poetry and dramas. In 1925 he became the assistant master at the Ixopo High School and, in 1928, joined the staff of Pietermaritzburg College. He was appointed principal of the Diepkloof Reformatory in 1935 and retired from government service in 1948. Thereafter, Paton devoted his life to writing, lecturing on the race question, and organizing the Liberal Party of South Africa.
The Diepkloof Reformatory, just outside Johannesburg, had been administered as a prison for delinquent youths from the slums rather than an institution for their rehabilitation. Paton insisted that this defeated the purpose of the reformatory. He introduced reforms which enabled some of the young to regain their self-respect. His granting of weekend leave was considered revolutionary. To the surprise of some of his colleagues, most of the boys returned at the end of their leave.
Paton began writing Cry, The Beloved Country in 1947 while touring American and European prisons and reformatories. In 1948 Cry, The Beloved Country was published, becoming an immediate success. At the same time, the predominantly Afrikaner Nationalist party was returned to power on the apartheid slogan that white's must remain master of South Africa. To Paton and those who shared his views, it was not enough for white liberals to preach race conciliation; they had to involve themselves actively in opposition to apartheid. Early in the 1950s he took part in the formation of the Liberal Association, which later became the Liberal Party of South Africa (SALP). He was elected its president in 1953 and remained in this position until the government enacted a law making the party illegal.
The SALP welcomed South Africans of all races in its ranks and sought to establish an open society in which merit would fix the position of the individual in the life of the nation. It advocated nonviolence and set out to collaborate with the black Africans' political organizations. Like most leaders of the SALP, Paton was criticized bitterly in the Afrikaans press for identifying himself with black Africans. The underlying fear was that he and his colleagues were creating potentially dangerous polarizations in the white community.
The party, however, gained a substantial following among both blacks and whites. In 1960 the government decided to take action against it. Peter Brown and Elliot Mngadi, national chairman and Natal secretary respectively of the SALP, were banned. Some of the party's leaders fled the country, while others like Hyacinth Bhengu and Jordan K. Ngubane, were arrested and tried on conspiracy charges. Paton was spared the arrests and the bannings. The government did, however, seize his passport upon his return from New York after having accepted the Freedom House Award honoring his opposition to racism. After a little less than ten years the government returned Paton's passport. That made it possible for him to undertake a world tour (1971) during the course of which he was showered with honors in America and Europe.
As a writer, Paton was a subject of controversy in his country. Cry, The Beloved Country made a tremendous impression outside South Africa and among the English-speaking in the republic. The nationalist-minded Afrikaners dismissed it, as a piece of liberalistic sentimentality. It caused only a minor stir in the black African community, where Paton was criticized for using stereotypes in depicting his black African characters. He was accused of approaching the black Africans from white perspectives which projected them either as the victims of violent and uncontrolled passions or as simple, credulous people who bore themselves with the humility of tamed savages in the presence of the white man.
The years after 1948 were to see a long list of publications from Paton's pen. In 1953 he published Too Late, the Phalarope. This was followed by Land and the People of South Africa (1955), South Africa in Transition (1956), Hope for South Africa (1958), Tales from a Troubled Land (1960), Debbie Go Home (1961), Hofmeyr (1965), South African Tragedy (1965), Instrument of Thy Peace (1967), The Long View (1968), For You Departed (1969), Creative Suffering: The Ripple of Hope (1970), Knocking on the Door: Alan Paton/Shorter Writings (1975), and Towards the Mountain: An Autobiography (1988). In addition to these, Paton wrote a musical, Mkhumbane, for which Todd Matshikiza, the exiled African composer, wrote the music. Paton also wrote the play, Sponono, in 1965.
Paton died of throat cancer on April 12, 1988 at his home outside Durban shortly after completing Journey Continued: An Autobiography. He was mourned as one of South Africa's leading figures in the anti-apartheid movement. Shortly after his death, his widow, Anne (Hopkins) Paton released a large portion of the contents of Paton's study for the establishment of The Alan Paton Centre on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of Natal. The university set aside space for this permanent memorial to Paton for future generations of writers and activists.
His novel Cry, The Beloved Country won him world acclaim for the insights it gave on South Africa's race problem.
Among the more significant awards Paton received were doctorates in literature from Kenyon College (1962), Natal University (1968), and Harvard University (1971); the London Sunday Times Special Award for Literature (1949); a doctorate in literature and the humanities from Yale University (1954); the Freedom House Award (1960); and an award from the Free Academy of Art, Hamburg, Germany (1961).
Shortly after his death, his widow, Anne (Hopkins) Paton released a large portion of the contents of Paton's study for the establishment of The Alan Paton Centre on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of Natal. The university set aside space for this permanent memorial to Paton for future generations of writers and activists.
In 1996 American actor James Earl Jones and Irish actor Richard Harris starred in a film version of Cry, The Beloved Country and received critical acclaim for their portrayal of Paton's characters.
The Alan Paton Award for non-fiction is conferred annually in his honour.
He is honoured at the Hall of Freedom of the Liberal International organisation.
(Dramatizes the public and private lives of contemporary S...)
(The author of Cry, the Beloved Country describes his deve...)
(The renowned South African novelist offers the second vol...)
(The American Film Theater's Lost in the Stars transforms ...)
(This world-renowned writer views the spiritual dilemmas o...)
( Get your "A" in gear! They're today's most popular stu...)
(TOO LATE THE PHALAROPE is set in South Africa, as well as...)
(SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELIST'S BIOGRAPHY OF GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN...)
(This is a collection of 70 poems, short stories, articles...)
In 1953 Paton founded the Liberal Party of South Africa, which fought against the apartheid legislation introduced by the National Party. Paton adopted a peaceful opposition in protests against apartheid.
Quotations:
"When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. "
"If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing. "
Cry, the Beloved Country:
"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. .. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much. "
"I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they turn to loving they will find we are turned to hating. "
"To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. "
"But the one thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power. "
I envision someday a great, peaceful South Africa in which the world will take pride, a nation in which each of many different groups will be making its own creative contribution. "
"God forgives us. .. who am I not to forgive?"
While at Ixopo he met Dorrie Francis Lusted. They were married in 1928 and remained together until her death from emphysema in 1967. Their life together is documented in Paton's book Kontakion for You Departed, published in 1969. They had two sons, Jonathan and David. In 1969, Paton married Anne Hopkins. This marriage lasted until Paton's death.
