Editing Alan Paton

{{Short description|South African author (1903–1988)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Additional citations|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer  <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
| name             = Alan Paton
| image            = Alan Paton.jpg
| alt              = Alan Paton
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = Alan Stewart Paton
| birth_date       = {{birth date |df=yes|1903|01|11}}<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Journey Continued: An Autobiography]]|last=Paton|first=Alan|isbn=9780192192370|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=2|year=1988}}</ref>
| birth_place      = [[Pietermaritzburg]], [[Colony of Natal]]<br>{{Small|(in modern [[KwaZulu-Natal]], [[South Africa]])}}
| death_date       = {{death date and age |df=yes|1988|04|12|1903|01|11}}
| death_place      = [[Botha's Hill]], South Africa<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/alan-stewart-paton |title=Alan Stewart Paton | work = South African History Online |access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref>
| resting_place    = 
| occupation       = {{Flatlist |* Author
* [[South Africa under apartheid|anti-apartheid]] activist}}
| language         = English
| notableworks     = ''[[Cry, the Beloved Country]]'';<br />''[[Too Late the Phalarope]]'', ''The Waste Land''
| children         = 2
| spouse           = {{married|Dorrie Francis Lusted|1928|1967}}<br>{{married|Anne Hopkins|1969|1988}}<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Journey Continued: An Autobiography]]|last=Paton|first=Alan|isbn=9780192192370|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=151|year=1988}}</ref>
}}
{{Apartheid}}
'''Alan Stewart Paton''' (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and [[internal resistance to apartheid|anti-apartheid]] activist. His works include the novels ''[[Cry, the Beloved Country]]'' (1948), ''[[Too Late the Phalarope]]'' (1953), and the short story ''The Waste Land''.

==Early life==
Paton was born in [[Pietermaritzburg]] in the [[Colony of Natal]] (now South Africa's [[KwaZulu-Natal]] province), the son of a civil servant<ref name=paton/> (who was of [[Christadelphians|Christadelphian]] belief) and his wife. 

After attending [[Maritzburg College]] for high school, Paton earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the [[University of Natal]]<ref name=paton/> 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.<ref name=paton/>

==Early career==
Paton served as the principal of Diepkloof Reformatory for young (native African) offenders from 1935 to 1949. He introduced controversial "progressive" [[prison reform|reforms]],<ref name=paton>{{cite web|url= http://authorscalendar.info/apaton.htm |title=Alan Paton |work=Books and Writers |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher= authorscalendar|location=Finland }}</ref> 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. In some cases, men were permitted to reside outside the compound under the supervision of a care family. Fewer than 5% of the 10,000 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 1946.<ref name=paton/> 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 1950s and became wealthy from their sales.

On 11 January 2018, a [[Google Doodle]] honored the author on what would have been his 115th birthday.<ref>Avakian, Talia (10 January 2018)."[https://time.com/5096681/googles-doodle-alan-paton-apartheid/ Google Doodle Celebrates South African Author and Anti-Apartheid Activist Alan Paton]", ''Time''. Retrieved 11 January 2018.</ref>

==Opposition to apartheid==
In 1948, four months after the publication of ''[[Cry, the Beloved Country]]'', the right-wing [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] was elected to power in [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]. Black South Africans did not receive the vote until 1994 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 1953. On 9 May 1953, it became the [[Liberal Party of South Africa]], with Paton as a founding co-president,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paton.ukzn.ac.za/Collections/liberal.aspx|title=Formation of the Liberal Party of South Africa|website=Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archive|publisher=University of KwaZulu-Natal|access-date=1 January 2018}}</ref> which fought against the [[apartheid]] laws introduced by the National Party government. Alan and his wife Dorrie at times sought shelter from the police, at the [[safe house]] of [[Colin Webb (historian)|Colin Webb]].<ref name="guest2017">{{cite book | first=Bill | last=Guest | year=2017 | title=Stella Aurorae: The History of a South African University | publisher=Natal Society Foundation | location=Pietermaritzburg | volume=2: The University of Natal (1949–1976) | url=https://www.natalia.org.za/Files/Publications/Stella%20Aurorae%202.pdf | access-date=2024-04-20}}</ref>

Paton served as President of the LPSA until the government forced its dissolution in the late 1960s, officially because its membership comprised both [[Bantu peoples in South Africa|Blacks]] and [[White South Africans|Whites]]. Paton was a friend of [[Bernard Friedman]], founder of the [[Progressive Party (South Africa)|Progressive Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2005-11-14-a-mixture-of-ice-and-fulfilled-desire |title=A mixture of ice and fulfilled desire – Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source |publisher=Mg.co.za |date=14 November 2005 |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> Paton's writer colleague [[Laurens van der Post]], who had moved to England in the 1930s, 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. 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 1960, where he had been presented with the annual Freedom Award.<ref name=NYTimes/> 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.<ref>[http://www.liberal-international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=1026 Alan Stewart Paton, South Africa (1903–1988)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026112904/http://www.liberal-international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=1026 |date=26 October 2011 }}, Liberal International website</ref>

==Other works==
Paton continued to explore racial themes and apartheid in his second and third novels, ''[[Too Late the Phalarope]]'' (1953) and ''[[Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful]]'' (1981), and his collected short stories, ''Tales From a Troubled Land'' (1961).<ref name=NYTimes/> 

''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 Barkly Molteno|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 1960s. 

"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."<ref>''Post-Colonial African Writers,'' ed. by Pushipa Naidu Parekh and [[Siga Fatima Jagne]], 1998</ref>{{clarify|date=January 2025}}

He also wrote biographies of his friends [[Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1894–1948)|Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr]] (''[[Hofmeyr (biography)|Hofmeyr]]''), and [[Geoffrey Hare Clayton|Geoffrey Clayton]] (''[[Apartheid and the Archbishop]]''). Another literary form that interested him throughout his life was poetry.<ref name=NYTimes/>

==Personal life==
While at Ixopo, Paton he met Dorrie Francis Lusted.<ref name=paton/> They married in 1928, and remained together until her death from [[emphysema]] in 1967.<ref name=paton/> Their life together is documented in Paton's memoir ''Kontakion for You Departed,'' (1969). They had two sons, Jonathan and David.  

In 1969, Paton remarried, to Anne Hopkins. This marriage lasted until Paton's death in 1988.<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/13/obituaries/alan-paton-author-who-fought-against-apartheid-is-dead-at-85.html?pagewanted=all |title = Alan Paton, Author Who Fought Against Apartheid, Is Dead at 85 | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=1988-04-13 | access-date=2012-05-08 |first = Herbert |last=Mitgang}}</ref>

Paton was a Christian. His faith was one of the reasons he was so strongly opposed to apartheid.<ref name=TheGuardian>{{cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/15/southafrica.religion |title = Remember the Beloved Country | work=[[The Guardian]]| date=2003-11-15 | access-date=2022-01-08 |first = Terry |last=Philpot}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
''Cry, the Beloved Country'' was twice adapted for films, has in 1951 and 1995. 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]]'', 1948 – made into a film in 1951, directed by [[Zoltan Korda]] with a screenplay by Paton himself; in 1995, directed by Darrell Roodt; also a musical and an opera
* ''[[Lost in the Stars]]'' 1950 – a musical based on the above work (book and lyrics by [[Maxwell Anderson]], music by [[Kurt Weill]])
* ''[[Too Late the Phalarope]]'', 1953
* ''[[The Land and People of South Africa]]'', 1955
* ''[[South Africa in Transition]]'', 1956
* ''[[Debbie Go Home]]'', 1960
* ''[[Tales from a Troubled Land]]'', 1961
* ''[[Hofmeyr (biography)|Hofmeyr]]'', 1964
* ''[[South African Tragedy]]'', 1965
* ''[[Sponono]]'', 1965 (with [[Krishna Shah]])
* ''The Long View'', 1967
* ''[[Instrument of Thy Peace]]'', 1968
* ''[[Kontakion For You Departed]]'', 1969 (also: ''For You Departed'')
* ''[[D. C. S. Oosthuizen Memorial Lecture]]'', 1970
* ''[[Case History of a Pinky]]'', 1972
* ''[[Apartheid and the Archbishop: the Life and Times of Geoffrey Clayton, Archbishop of Cape Town]]'', 1973
* ''[[Knocking on the Door]]'', 1975
* ''[[Towards the Mountain]]'', 1980
* ''[[Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful]]'', 1981
* ''[[Journey Continued: An Autobiography]]'', 1988
* ''[[Save the Beloved Country]]'', 1989
* ''[[The Hero of Currie Road: the complete short pieces]]'', 2008<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umuzi-randomhouse.co.za/hero.html |title=Umuzi – The Hero of Currie Road – Detail Page |publisher=Umuzi-randomhouse.co.za |date=27 May 2008 |access-date=13 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227025611/http://umuzi-randomhouse.co.za/hero.html |archive-date=27 December 2008 }}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
<!-- "Honours" is the correct spelling. This article is written in South African English - not American. -->
* In 20 April 2006, Paton 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."<ref>{{Cite web|title=South Africa honours 27 outstanding citizens|url=https://www.iol.co.za/travel/south-africa/south-africa-honours-27-outstanding-citizens-295431|date=September 28, 2006|access-date=2020-08-24|website=www.iol.co.za|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Liberalism]]
* [[Contributions to liberal theory]]
* [[List of African writers]]
* [[List of South Africans]] – In 2004 Paton was voted 59th in the [[SABC3's Great South Africans]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book  | last = Holland | first = Roy | title = Alan Paton Speaking | publisher = Diadem Books | year = 2008 | location = Clashnessie, [[Scotland|SCO]], UK | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xiVjZ_7u6xAC | isbn = 978-0-9559741-4-4}}  116 pp.
* {{Citation | first = Anne | last = Paton | year = 1992 | title = Some Sort of a Job: My Life with Alan Paton | publisher = Penguin | place = [[South Africa|ZA]] | ISBN = 978-0-67083969-8}}.
* Fullerton, Ian (1980), ''Politics and the South African Novel in English'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 3, Summer 1980, pp. 22 & 23

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090830234508/http://paton.ukzn.ac.za/findus779.aspx The Alan Paton Centre & Struggle Archives]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050403194603/http://literature.kzn.org.za/lit/22.xml Alan Paton — A short biography and bibliography ]
* [http://www.mg.co.za/article/2005-11-14-a-mixture-of-ice-and-fulfilled-desire A mixture of ice and fulfilled desire], ''[[Mail & Guardian]]'', 14 November 2005

{{Alan Paton navbox}}
{{Liberalism in South Africa}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, Alan}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Anglicans]]
[[Category:20th-century South African historians]]
[[Category:20th-century South African male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century South African novelists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Maritzburg College]]
[[Category:Anglican anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:Anglican writers]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of South Africa politicians]]
[[Category:People from Pietermaritzburg]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga]]
[[Category:South African Anglicans]]
[[Category:South African anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:South African autobiographers]]
[[Category:South African male novelists]]
[[Category:South African people of British descent]]
[[Category:University of Natal alumni]]
[[Category:White South African anti-apartheid activists]]