On 11 January 2018, a Google Doodle honored the author on what would have been his 115th birthday. Paton published numerous books in the 1950s and became wealthy from their sales. 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. 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. He toured Scandinavia, Britain, continental Europe, Canada, and the United States. After the war he took a journey, at his own expense, to tour correctional facilities across the world.
Paton volunteered for military service with the British Commonwealth forces during World War II, but was refused by the South African authorities. 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. In some cases, men were even permitted to reside outside the compound under the supervision of a care family. Men who showed great trustworthiness would be permitted to work outside the compound. The men were initially housed in closed dormitories once they had proven themselves trustworthy, they would be transferred to open dormitories within the compound. He served as the principal of Diepkloof Reformatory for young (native African) offenders from 1935 to 1949, where he introduced controversial "progressive" reforms, including policies on open dormitories, work permits, and home visitation. His faith was one of the reasons he was so strongly opposed to apartheid. This marriage lasted until Paton's death. Their life together is documented in Paton's book Kontakion for You Departed, published in 1969.
They married in 1928 and remained together until her death from emphysema in 1967. While at Ixopo he met Dorrie Francis Lusted. After graduation, Paton worked as a teacher, first at the Ixopo High School, and subsequently at Maritzburg College. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed by a diploma in education. Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg in the Colony of Natal (now South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province), the son of a civil servant (who was of Christadelphian belief).
His works include the novels Cry, the Beloved Country, Too Late the Phalarope and the narrative poem The Wasteland. Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist.
0 kommentar(er)
