Cry the Beloved Country

 

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It was easily forty-five to fifty years ago, that someone suggested that I read a book or two by Alan Paton.  I don’t recall the person who made the suggestion.  I am guessing it was a professor at Michigan, most likely in the  English or Philosophy Departments.  I am guessing it was my freshman writing professor, actually, a teaching assistant.  This fellow was may five years older than I was.  I was too young to fully appreciate this professor, the writing guidance he provided, and the reading suggestions he made.  I moved on to the next semester and never really had the wherewithal to remember his name.  As I said, I was too young.

Alan Paton (1903 – 1988) was a South African writer.  He was also an anti-apartheid activist.  He was a prolific writer mostly.  He wrote a lot of political and historical essays and books.  He only wrote three novels.  His most famous novels were his first and third:  Cry the Beloved Country (1948) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953).  These are the two that English professor suggested I read.  I think I chose Too Late the Phalarope for two simple reasons.  First, it was written in the year I was born.  Second, I liked the title more, because I was forced to look up the word Phalarope which is a shore bird similar to the Sandpiper. At that time, the novel was eye-opening and a tough read about a South African police officer who has a relationship with a black woman.  It was well done and eye-opening to my then nineteen year old self.  While I recall the contribution of the book to my growth and understanding of segregation and discrimination, I don’t honestly recall the details of the book.

I thought about reading Cry the Beloved Country next but chose not to.  I had other books and other topics to explore and put Cry the Beloved Country on the read it someday list.  That someday has yet to happen. 

This morning the 1995 version of Cry the Beloved Country was airing on one of the movie channels and I decided to watch it.  It starred James Earl Jones as a South African pastor in Natal and Richard Harris as a wealthy landowner.  They barely knew each other until a tragedy involving their sons brought them to a place where they could understand and appreciate each other.  I was impressed and touched by this film.  It made me wonder if I should read this book.

Alan Paton began life as a teacher after his education at the University of Natal.  In 1935, he left teaching to become the head of the Diepkloof Reformatory for African boys.  It was located near Johannesburg.  This position, which he wove into the plot of Cry the Beloved Country, shaped Paton’s career.  Because of it he became a writer and a politician/activist.

He was one of the founders of the Liberal Party of South Africa.  This party worked to eliminate apartheid.  Because of his writing and involvement in the Liberal Party, South Africa revoked his passport from 1960 – 1970.  As he passed away in 1988, he did not see the end to apartheid in 1994.

At the end of the very well-done movie, there was a scene where the camera panned the beautiful landscape of the mountains of Natal with this quote from Cry the Beloved Country:

For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing.

But when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.  

Alan Paton - onthisday.com