Alan Paton

There are many American novelists, poets and philosophers whose work I have admired. I would not like to say they influenced me, because my own life and writing might by some be regarded to be poor evidence for such a statement. But I once wrote a poem to Walt Whitman which ended with the lines: So now, great brother, I am ready to sing now.

Re "Crime in South Africa More Vexing and Vicious," May 4: I traveled in South Africa in November 2003 and found it to be a country of spectacular beauty and stunning contrasts. One out of three people I met spoke of being the victim of violent crime. Many South Africans feel that crime is a bigger problem now than it was during apartheid. Until economic and educational opportunities are increased for the marginalized groups, violent crimes and hate crimes will continue unabated. As I read your sad story of the elderly white couple slaughtered by a black youth, I was struck by the similarities to a story told in 1948.

Alan Paton, 85, the country's best known author, was recovering today from surgery for an undisclosed ailment, a press report said. Paton, whose 1948 novel "Cry, The Beloved Country" drew a compelling picture of apartheid in South Africa, was in "fairly serious condition" after Tuesday's operation at a Durban hospital, according to an unidentified heart surgeon quoted by the South African Press Assn.

Alan Paton, the author of "Cry, the Beloved Country," describes the changes in his life brought about by the publication of that important book with the casual modesty that has made British sang-froid a byword.

Alan Paton, the author of "Cry, the Beloved Country," describes the changes in his life brought about by the publication of that important book with the casual modesty that has made British sang-froid a byword.

In 1980, Alan Paton finished the first volume of his autobiography, "Towards the Mountain," with the hope that before he died he would write the story of the rest of his life. When he died April 12 of this year, "Journey Continued" was already at the printer's. Despite bouts of ill-health and a distracting attempt to accomplish the task in fictional form (in a projected trilogy, only one volume of which--"Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful"--appeared), he had managed to produce the concluding volume of his autobiography, "Journey Continued."

Re "Crime in South Africa More Vexing and Vicious," May 4: I traveled in South Africa in November 2003 and found it to be a country of spectacular beauty and stunning contrasts. One out of three people I met spoke of being the victim of violent crime. Many South Africans feel that crime is a bigger problem now than it was during apartheid. Until economic and educational opportunities are increased for the marginalized groups, violent crimes and hate crimes will continue unabated. As I read your sad story of the elderly white couple slaughtered by a black youth, I was struck by the similarities to a story told in 1948.

Alan Paton, the elder statesman of white liberalism in South Africa whose 1948 novel, "Cry, the Beloved Country," awakened the world to the plight of blacks here and won instant and lasting acclaim, died this morning at the age of 85. Paton had been ill for about three weeks, suffering from inoperable throat cancer, according to his wife, Anne Paton. He died at his home in Botha's Hill, in the lush, rolling countryside of Natal province near Durban.

1. "3 May, Bistritz. --Left Munich at 8:35 p.m., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late." 2. "There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills." 3. "All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." 4. "Mother died today." 5. "Then there was the bad weather." 6. "Though I haven't ever been on the screen I was brought up in pictures."

Nothing sums up apartheid more precisely, nor more painfully, than a black mother crying for her child killed in the dusty streets of a South African township in a protest against a system that was denying him a future.

In 1980, Alan Paton finished the first volume of his autobiography, "Towards the Mountain," with the hope that before he died he would write the story of the rest of his life. When he died April 12 of this year, "Journey Continued" was already at the printer's. Despite bouts of ill-health and a distracting attempt to accomplish the task in fictional form (in a projected trilogy, only one volume of which--"Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful"--appeared), he had managed to produce the concluding volume of his autobiography, "Journey Continued."

There are many American novelists, poets and philosophers whose work I have admired. I would not like to say they influenced me, because my own life and writing might by some be regarded to be poor evidence for such a statement. But I once wrote a poem to Walt Whitman which ended with the lines: So now, great brother, I am ready to sing now.

Alan Paton, the elder statesman of white liberalism in South Africa whose 1948 novel, "Cry, the Beloved Country," awakened the world to the plight of blacks here and won instant and lasting acclaim, died this morning at the age of 85. Paton had been ill for about three weeks, suffering from inoperable throat cancer, according to his wife, Anne Paton. He died at his home in Botha's Hill, in the lush, rolling countryside of Natal province near Durban.

Alan Paton, 85, the country's best known author, was recovering today from surgery for an undisclosed ailment, a press report said. Paton, whose 1948 novel "Cry, The Beloved Country" drew a compelling picture of apartheid in South Africa, was in "fairly serious condition" after Tuesday's operation at a Durban hospital, according to an unidentified heart surgeon quoted by the South African Press Assn.

Mary Benson, 80, exiled anti-apartheid campaigner and biographer of Nelson Mandela. Benson absorbed the prejudices of white South Africans growing up in Pretoria, where she was born in 1919. She did not reject those attitudes until she read Alan Paton's celebrated novel about the nation, "Cry the Beloved Country," in 1948. She developed a close friendship with Paton and began to write about black Africans' struggle against apartheid and campaign in London for their cause.