Author alan paton biography of mahatma gandhi

Alan Paton

South African author (–)

Alan Stewart Paton (11 January – 12 April ) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels Cry, the Beloved Country (), Too Late the Phalarope (), and the short story The Waste Land.

Family

Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal (now South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province), the son of a civil servant[4] (who was of Christadelphian belief) and his wife.

After attending Maritzburg College for high school, Paton earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal[4] in his hometown. He also got a diploma in education. After graduation, Paton worked as a teacher, first at the Ixopo High School, and subsequently at Maritzburg College.[4]

While at Ixopo he met Dorrie Francis Lusted.[4] They married in and remained together until her death from emphysema in [4] Their life together is documented in Paton's memoir Kontakion for You Departed, ().

They had two sons, Jonathan and David.

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    • In , Paton remarried, to Anne Hopkins. This marriage lasted until Paton's death in [5]

    Paton was a strong Christian. His faith was one of the reasons he was so strongly opposed to apartheid.[6]

    Early career

    Paton served as the principal of Diepkloof Reformatory for young (native African) offenders from to He introduced controversial "progressive" reforms,[4] including policies on open dormitories, work permits, and home visitation.

    The young men were initially housed in closed dormitories; once they had proven themselves trustworthy, they would be transferred to open dormitories within the compound. Men who showed great trustworthiness would be permitted to work outside the compound.

    Biography of mahatma gandhi death Yet, like Steinbeck before him—whose novel, The Grapes of Wrath , spurred the writing of Cry, the Beloved Country —Paton portrays people as a wonderful mixture of toughness and tenderness, men and women who love and lose their land but are revitalized by man's unquenchable humanity. There is something very wrong in Africa, and people feel it. But it is not permissible to watch its destruction, and to replace it by nothing, or by so little, that a whole people degenerates, physically and morally. Brutus attributed a new sort of writing in South Africa to Paton and his novel.

    In some cases, men were permitted to reside outside the compound under the supervision of a care family. Fewer than 5% of the 10, men who were given home leave during Paton's years at Diepkloof ever broke their trust by failing to return.

    Later career

    Paton volunteered for military service with the British Commonwealth forces during World War II, but was refused by the South African authorities.

    After the war he took a journey, at his own expense, to tour correctional facilities across the world. He toured Scandinavia, Britain, continental Europe, Canada, and the United States. During his time in Norway, he began work on his seminal novel Cry, the Beloved Country, which he completed over the course of his journey, finishing it on Christmas Eve in San Francisco in [4] There, he met Aubrey and Marigold Burns, who read his manuscript and found a publisher: the editor Maxwell Perkins, noted for editing novels of Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe, guided Paton's first novel through publication with Scribner's.

    Paton published numerous books in the s and became wealthy from their sales.

    On 11 January , a Google Doodle honored the author on what would have been his th birthday.[7]

    Opposition to apartheid

    In , four months after the publication of Cry, the Beloved Country, the right-wing National Party was elected to power in South Africa.

    Black South Africans did not receive the vote until so were unable to oppose this directly. The legislature soon passed laws to formally establish apartheid, a system of racial segregation.

    Paton, together with Margaret Ballinger, Edgar Brookes, and Leo Marquard, formed the Liberal Association in early On 9 May , it became the Liberal Party of South Africa, with Paton as a founding co-president,[8] which fought against the apartheid laws introduced by the National Party government.

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    • Alan and his wife Dorrie at times sought shelter from the police, at the safe house of Colin Webb.[9]

    Paton served as President of the LPSA until the government forced its dissolution in the late s, officially because its membership comprised both Blacks and Whites. Paton was a friend of Bernard Friedman, founder of the Progressive Party.[10] Paton's writer colleague Laurens van der Post, who had moved to England in the s, helped the party in many ways.

    The South African Secret Police were aware that van der Post was providing money to Paton and the LPSA, but they could not stop it by legal procedures.

    Paton advocated peaceful opposition to apartheid, as did many others in the party. Yet, some LPSA members took a more violent stance.

    Author alan paton biography of mahatma gandhi for kids These passes said where the individual could go. Since African natives live in the valleys, not in the highlands, the rising sun must first dispel the mists of fear hanging over those valleys. It is a hope that the children will not care so much for ownership of the land or things, but for the beauty of the land and for each other. Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country, a classic of modern literature still read by thousands of people every year, brought international attention to the political turmoil in South Africa and its repressive system of apartheid when it was published in

    Consequently some stigma attached to the party, not just within South Africa, but also outside the country. The South African government confiscated Paton's passport when he returned from New York City in , where he had been presented with the annual Freedom Award.[5] His passport was not returned to him for ten years, making it impossible for him to travel to speak to other countries.

    Paton retired to Botha's Hill, where he resided until his death. He is honored at the Hall of Freedom of the Liberal International organisation.[11]

    Other works

    Paton continued to explore racial themes and apartheid in his second and third novels, Too Late the Phalarope () and Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful (), and his collected short stories, Tales From a Troubled Land ().[5]

    Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful was built on parallel life stories, letters, speeches, news and records in legal proceedings.

    Its fictional characters interacted with some historic figures, such as Donald Molteno, Albert Luthuli and Hendrik Verwoerd. The novel is classified as historical fiction. It gives an accurate account of the resistance movement in South Africa during the s.

    "Paton attempts to imbue his characters with a humanity not expected of them.

    In this novel, for example, we meet the supposedly obdurate Afrikaner who contravenes the infamous Immorality Act. There are other Afrikaners, too, who are led by their consciences and not by rules, and regulations promulgated by a faceless, monolithic parliament."[12]

    Paton was a prolific essay writer on race and politics in South Africa.

    In Save the Beloved Country, he discusses many of the noted figures and issues on different sides of South Africa's apartheid struggle.

    His Anglican faith was an important factor in his life and work: the title of one work is Instrument of Thy Peace.

    Paton also wrote two autobiographies: Towards the Mountain deals with Paton's life leading up to and including the publication of Cry, the Beloved Country (an event that changed the course of his life).

    Journey Continued takes its departure from that time onwards.

    He also wrote biographies of his friends Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Hofmeyr), and Geoffrey Clayton (Apartheid and the Archbishop). Another literary form that interested him throughout his life was poetry; the biographer Peter Alexander includes many of these poems[clarification needed] in his biography of Paton.[5]

    Paton's work includes travel writing, The Lost City of the Kalahari (), and a complete selection of his shorter writings, The Hero of Currie Road.

    The Alan Paton Award for non-fiction is conferred annually in his honour.

    Adaptations

    Cry, the Beloved Country was twice adapted for films, has in and It was the basis for the Broadway musical Lost in the Stars, which was adapted by American playwright Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill).

    Selected works

    • Cry, The Beloved Country, – made into a film in , directed by Zoltan Korda with a screenplay by Paton himself; in , directed by Darrell Roodt; also a musical and an opera
    • Lost in the Stars – a musical based on the above work (book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, music by Kurt Weill)
    • Too Late the Phalarope,
    • The Land and People of South Africa,
    • South Africa in Transition,
    • Debbie Go Home,
    • Tales from a Troubled Land,
    • Hofmeyr,
    • South African Tragedy,
    • Sponono, (with Krishna Shah)
    • The Long View,
    • Instrument of Thy Peace,
    • Kontakion For You Departed, (also: For You Departed)
    • D.

      C. S. Oosthuizen Memorial Lecture,

    • Case History of a Pinky,
    • Apartheid and the Archbishop: the Life and Times of Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town,
    • Knocking on the Door,
    • Towards the Mountain,
    • Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful,
    • Journey Continued: An Autobiography,
    • Save the Beloved Country,
    • The Hero of Currie Road: the complete short pieces, [13]

    Awards and honours

    • In 20 April he was posthumously awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold "Exceptional contribution to literature, exposing the apartheid oppression through his work and fighting for a just and democratic society."[14]

    See also

    Notes

    1. ^Paton, Alan ().

      Journey Continued: An Autobiography.

      Biography of mahatma gandhi hindi: At the end, he has decided to give up all worldly goods and withdraw to an ascetic life. His murder, at the hands of Absalom Kumalo, drives much of the action of the novel. Through this lie, his son is free while his nephew is executed. He also got a diploma in education.

      Oxford University Press. p.&#;2. ISBN&#;.

    2. ^"Alan Stewart Paton". South African History Online.

      Author alan paton biography of mahatma gandhi For they are secret. Alan Paton : A Biography. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. He offers Stephen reasons for his search and assistance at every step along the way.

      Retrieved 14 June

    3. ^Paton, Alan (). Journey Continued: An Autobiography. Oxford University Press. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
    4. ^ abcdefgLiukkonen, Petri.

      "Alan Paton". Books and Writers. Finland: authorscalendar.

    5. ^ abcdHerbert Mitgang (13 April ).

      Author alan paton biography of mahatma gandhi in english Cruz-Romo, Gilda. In Book II it is clear that the white "tribe" has thrived on the destruction of the black tribes, who have provided the white people with their maids, laborers, and mine workers. Fortunately, the article by Harry A. He was both an Indian and a South African citizen.

      "Alan Paton, Author Who Fought Against Apartheid, Is Dead at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May

    6. ^Terry Philpot (15 November ). "Remember the Beloved Country". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January
    7. ^Avakian, Talia (10 January )."Google Doodle Celebrates South African Author and Anti-Apartheid Activist Alan Paton", Time.

      Retrieved 11 January

    8. ^"Formation of the Liberal Party of South Africa". Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archive. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Retrieved 1 January
    9. ^Guest, Bill (). Stella Aurorae: The History of a South African University(PDF). Vol.&#;2: The University of Natal (–).

      Pietermaritzburg: Natal Society Foundation. Retrieved 20 April

    10. ^"A mixture of ice and fulfilled desire – Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source". 14 November Retrieved 13 May
    11. ^Alan Stewart Paton, South Africa (–)Archived 26 October at the Wayback Machine, Liberal International website
    12. ^Post-Colonial African Writers, ed.

      by Pushipa Naidu Parekh and Siga Fatima Jagne,

    13. ^"Umuzi – The Hero of Currie Road – Detail Page". 27 May Archived from the original on 27 December Retrieved 13 May
    14. ^"South Africa honours 27 outstanding citizens". . Retrieved 24 August

    Further reading

    • Holland, Roy ().

      Alan Paton Speaking. Clashnessie, SCO, UK: Diadem Books. ISBN&#;. pp.

    • Paton, Anne (), Some Sort of a Job: My Life with Alan Paton, ZA: Penguin, ISBN&#;.
    • Fullerton, Ian (), Politics and the South African Novel in English, in Murray, Glen (ed.), Cencrastus No.

      3, Summer , pp. 22 & 23

    External links