Cry, the Beloved Country

What an outstanding novel. There were portions of this book that were deeply moving for me. Given the influence of South African literature throughout the novel, I don't think it is for everyone. However, it was the right book for me in this season. I read it thanks to a book club I'm in and I'm so thankful I did. I don't return to fiction books very often, but this is one I will turn to again, I'm sure of it.

Very absorbing read of two fathers in South Africa during apartheid, one black and one white. The son of the white father is well known in Johannesburg as a prominent speaker against apartheid and is loved by both communities, when is he killed by the son of the black man. The two fathers are distraught, confused, and suffering. Get. The. Tissues.

If I could give this 6 stars I would... a magnificent, moving story with extraordinary depth and wisdom.

#ReadAroundTheWorld. #South Africa

This story was written in 1946 by White South African author Alan Paton, and published in 1948 on the eve of the creation Apartheid in South Africa. It is a classic work of protest literature, focussing on the evils of racism, exploitation and colonialism. Paton later started the Liberal Party in South Africa which opposed apartheid. This book was first published in the US as it was unlikely to be published in South Africa at the time.

The story takes us to the village of Ndotsheni in Natal, where Stephen Kumalo, a Zulu minister, is called to go to Johannesburg to see his sister who is ill. Sadly he finds she has become involved in selling liquor and prostitution. He then seeks to find his son Absalom who he eventually discovers in jail having shot and killed a white man. Despite the heartbreak Kumalo must find a way to go on, to fight for the plight of his people and his village.

The book moves between the gentle conversations of Kumalo and some paragraphs questioning where South Africa is headed and the tyranny of the oppression of black people in mines, in the villages and the squatter camps of the metropolis.

This was a moving story, well-written and impacting. The tone is mildly patronising at points, which doesn’t surprise me given it was written nearly eighty years ago, but Paton takes on the important role of becoming a whistleblower on an international level, revealing what was going on in South Africa. You can sense his passion for the country and the vehemence of his beliefs about the evils of racial segregation and exploitation. This is an important work cutting to the heart of a great tragedy.

It's like Faulkner on valium. Were it not for the utter miserableness of South African literature this book would not have stood out as slightly less miserable than the rest.

Alan Paton lays the biblical overtones thick as peanut butter and jelly. The tone is pretty awesome at the start, but it becomes insipid as soon as it's clear that this book has no substance. Because the book has no plot: a crime is committed, justice is done, and the patriarch goes up onto the mountain for the night to pray and feel sort of okay.

Just once, once, I would like to read a happy South African novel. Is that too much to ask? It's as if the South African collective is so addicted to victimhood that books like this are needed to excuse and justify misery as being patriotic.

Just wow. The prose—the characters—the themes—the setting—all, shining.

It reminded me of The Chosen with the contrasting of two fathers and their sons (a favorite trope, if it can be called that, of mine). The writing style reminded me a little of Ursula K. Le Guin's. And in some ways it reminded me of Gilead too.

It's especially meaningful because I've been to South Africa, if only for the tiniest bit of time. And of course the themes are universal and feel deeply relevant to our race-torn society.

Just—the way not everything works out and the really hard, ugly stuff that happens and yet there is a eucatastrophic (word?) abundance of grace and healing and hope (Like no mercy—I expected there to be mercy, and there was, but not in the way I expected. I think a lesser author would have given Absalom mercy—or would have left Kumalo to resign himself to the unfairness and despair at the end. Paton does neither.).

—It suited the white man to break the tribe, he continued gravely. But it has not suited him to build something in the place of what is broken. … They are not all so. There are some white men who give their lives to build up what is broken.
—But they are not enough, he said. They are afraid, that is truth. It is fear that rules this land.

*

—Brother, I am recovered.
Msimangu’s face lights up, but he talks humbly, there is no pride or false restraint.
—I have tried every way to touch you, he says, but I could not come near. So give thanks and be satisfied.

Discovering A Classic Novel

Alan Paton's novel "Cry, the Beloved Country" (1948) somehow escaped me over the years. Paton's novel was already a staple on high school reading lists when I was in school, and I tend to avoid such books. A glance at some of the many reviews here on Amazon suggests that the book continues to be force-fed to students, a situation that discourages appreciative reading. When our book group selected the novel, I became an initially reluctant reader. But I soon realized I had missed a great deal in not reading this book.

Set in South Africa in 1948, Paton's novel examines race relations in that troubled country just before the formal institution of apartheid. The primary character is an elderly Zulu minister, Stephen Kumalo who lives and tends to his congregation in a poor farming community which has depleted its soil by poor farming practices on hills. Steven's brother John, his sister Gertrude and his only son Absolom have left the homestead to try to find their ways in Johannesburg. When Steven receives a message that his sister is in desperate straits, he undertakes the lengthy, expensive rail journey to Johannesburg in search of his family. Steven finds each of the three, and the novel tells their stories. The book develops primarily around Absolom who has become a troubled, delinquent young man. Absolom is arrested and tried for the murder of a young white man, Arthur Jarvis. Arthur's father, James, is a wealthy landholder and near-neighbor of Stephen Kumalo. During the trial of Stephen's son, the two men become close. In his life, Arthur had studied closely South Africa's racial situation and had written and spoken out eloquently for change. With his son's death, the novel shows how James, who had been apathetic on the issue at best, came to understand and share the convictions of his son.

"Cry, the Beloved Country" is immeasurably more than a polemic against racism in South Africa. In my belated reading of the book, I tried to think of how the work transcended its time and place to become a convincing work of art. Here are some of my ideas. The writing style of the book in its lyricism, solemnity, repetition, and detail frequently is more akin to poetry than to fictional narrative. The tone of the book is sad and thoughtful much more than it is critical. Paton seems less inclined to blame any party for the origins of racism in South Africa than he is to understand. He explores how racism developed and he examines the fears of all the participants in the system. The aim is not to condemn but to understand, forgive, and change.

There are beautiful portrayals of South Africa in all its aspects, from the small native communes and compounds to the mines to the metropolis of Johannesburg. The book celebrates reading and the life of the mind primarily through Arthur Jarvis, whose library and thought Paton explores in depth. Abraham Lincoln receives great and devoted attention in this book, showing the universal appeal of this great American president.

More than the portrayal of an unjust social system or the depiction of a complex country, "Cry the Beloved Country" is a religious work. Few, if any characters in this story are entirely evil. Although shown as a person with flaws and a tendency to hurt others, Stephen Kumalo emerges as a committed Christian minister to his people. When he travels to Johannesburg, he meets several other ministers and church officials who, contrary to much literature, are portrayed selflessly and positively.

Several other characters, including a lawyer who defends Stephen's son pro bono ("pro deo"), and a native landlady are shown as unselfish, well-meaning and noble. The book tells its story of hope, forgiveness, and correction of injustice without derogating.

On my reading, I found "Cry, the Beloved Country" in large part a religious novel of an unusual and profound spirit in the way it approached its themes. I was drawn by the goodness and sincerity of the characters. The book helps show what religion, Christianity in particular, can be at its best in a troubled time. Forgiveness and not condemnation is the overriding theme of the book. I was grateful to take the opportunity to read Paton's novel at last.

Robin Friedman

This is probably my top read so far this year. The writing is so simple and beautiful and almost poetic. The story made me sad and angry and hopeful and glad. What a rich and beautiful book.