Alan Paton

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Alan Paton

Alan Stewart Paton (born January 11, 1903 in Pietermaritzburg , † April 12, 1988 in Durban ) was a South African writer , politician and opponent of apartheid .

Family background

Paton was born in 1903 as the son of a civil servant in Pietermaritzburg, a town in what was then the British colony of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal ). After attending college, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Natal , which was followed by a degree in Education. After graduation, he worked as a teacher at Ixopo High School and then at the College in Maritzburg. At this time he also made the acquaintance of Dorrie Francis Lusted, whom he married in 1928. In 1967 Dorrie Francis died of emphysema . Their life together is also dealt with in Paton's book Kontakion for You Departed, which was published in 1969. They had two sons named Jonathan and David. The marriage to Anne Hopkins, which was concluded in 1969, lasted until the death of the author in 1988.

Paton as a writer

Alan Paton stood up for young offenders in the 1930s and 40s. He was a teacher and since 1935 director of the Diepkloof educational institution near Johannesburg , where he implemented “progressive” ideas such as open dormitories or open prisons. Paton volunteered for the war effort during World War II, but was not drafted. After the war he went on a trip at his own expense, the purpose of which was to get to know the penal system in different countries. He toured Scandinavia, England, continental Europe, Canada and the United States. During his time in Norway, he began work on his novel Cry, The Beloved Country, which he was able to complete over the course of his trip and which he finished on Christmas Eve in San Francisco. There he also met Aubrey and Marigold Burns, who read his manuscript and found a publisher for him. The publisher Maxwell Perkins, who had already become known for the publication of the novels Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfes , accompanied the publication of Paton's first novel together with the publishing house Scribner. The publication of more novels in the 1950s made Paton a wealthy writer.

Paton as a critic of apartheid

In 1948 the National Party , which programmatically promoted the institutional establishment of apartheid , took power in South Africa. In 1953 Paton founded the Liberal Party of South Africa (LPSA) with Margaret Ballinger, Edgar Brookes and Leo Marquard , which propagated an alternative to the politics of apartheid. In 1956 he became National Chairman and thus de facto chairman of the party, in 1958 he accepted the post of party president in order to have more time for his writing activities. He was succeeded as chairman by Peter Brown. In 1964, Paton pleaded in the Rivonia trial for a reduction in sentences for Nelson Mandela and the other defendants, thus helping to avert the death penalty. He remained president until the self-dissolution of the LPSA, forced by new legislation in 1968. In 1960 he was sanctioned by the government for his commitment by having his passport withdrawn for a period of ten years. In the small town of Botha's Hill near Hillcrest he finally chose his retirement home. He died of throat cancer in 1988 .

His work was based on his resolute Christian faith. In 1964 and 1973 he received the CNA Literary Award for Hofmeyr and Apartheid and the Archbishop . In 1989 the South African Alan Paton Award was named after him. In 2006 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in gold.

Works (selection)

His most famous novel Cry, The Beloved Country was filmed twice (1951 and 1995) and was the literary basis for the musical Lost in the Stars (adapted by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill ). The second (Too Late the Phalarope, 1953) and third (Ah, but Your Land is Beautiful, 1981) novels and his collection of short stories (Tales From a Troubled Land, 1961) all deal with the same racial problem that preoccupied the author in his first novel .

  • 1948: Cry, the Beloved Country - German: Because they should be comforted ; later filmed
  • 1961: Debbie Go Home
  • 1964: Hofmeyr
  • 1965: Tales from a Troubled Land
  • 1973: Apartheid and the Archbishop

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Herbert Mitgang: Alan Paton, author Who Fought Against Apartheid, Is Dead at 85 . In: The New York Times . April 13, 1988, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed February 24, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Alan Paton. (No longer available online.) January 21, 2008, archived from the original on January 21, 2008 ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Staff Reporter: A mixture of ice and fulfilled desire . In: The M&G Online . ( mg.co.za [accessed February 24, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on February 25, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Paton, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paton, Alan Stewart
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African writer, politician and opponent of apartheid
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Pietermaritzburg
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1988
Place of death Durban