This is an old book that still has a lot of meaning for people in my country (USA) who are entangled with, fooled, uneducated about racial discord. The book was written in 1948 featuring a rural minister in South Africa who was black. He had learned to accept the insults, the rudeness of others and was a good pastor to his flock in the outlands - far from the big city. His sister went to Johannesburg to look for her husband and did not send mail to her brother. A minister wrote Kumalo, the central character, telling him that his sister was very ill and that he should come immediately. Kumalo, had no spare money but he took the money he and his wife had saved to send their only child, a boy, to advanced schooling. The son, Absalom, had also gone to Johannesburg and does not write his parents. So this dear unsophisticated man went to the big city to find his sister and his son. Some people are helpful, others are scornful because he is a black man. No other reason. This is a painful story of racial hatred, discrimination, and the dignity of some people. The book is especially relevant right now in my country because of the hatred, injustice, cruelty, and, sometimes, gentle justice. If all people in my country would read this book and discuss it with others, we might have more understanding, more justice, more kindness, and fewer killings.
I was almost afraid reading the book at this time in my country. No place is really safe from the Proud Boys, the Klan, the many guns that politicians will not restrict. I urge everyone to read it and maybe see with new eyes. We need to become more caring, more kind and perhaps a book about kindness in a racially divided country will help open eyes.

نویسنده آدم عمیقی‌ست؛ چنان لحظات، صحنه‌ها و حالات را توصیف می‌کند که فکر می‌کنی ساعت‌ها به لایه‌های پنهان آن لحظه فکر کرده است.
«بنال وطن» البته دور است از ما و ترجمه هم قدیمی‌ست؛ این موضوع اتصال ما را با کتاب کم می‌کند و اگر هنر نویسندگی و بیان حالات فطری و هرزمانی انسان‌ها نبود، ممکن بود از کتاب جدا شویم.
داستان علاوه بر باورپذیر و پرجزئیات بودن، نگاه جالبی هم به مناقشات تاریخی سیاه و سفید در قاره‌ی آفریقا دارد و مدام ما را میان حق دادن به سیاه‌ها و سفیدها می‌گرداند، و البته پرواضح است که در این رفت‌وبرگشت، کفه به سمت بومی‌های سیاه سنگینی خواهد کرد.

This is a country of great beauty – rolling hills and towering mountains and veins of gold that run deep beneath the earth. This is a country of many people – white and black and every shade in between. This is a country of many resources – talents and wisdom and the good things that come up from the rich earth.
But this is also a country of great turmoil – whites clashing against blacks, rich against poor, all yearning for more than they have been allotted. This is a country of great sorrow – destitution and violence and evil abound, causing tears to fall night and day. This is a country of great need – forced ignorance and poverty cause many to cry out, longing for something better. This is a country of great contrasts – the boundary between the white and the black is seemingly impregnable.
This is a country groaning under the weight of a burden too heavy for its people to lift. Unless they lift together, they shall be crushed. This country, this beloved country, is South Africa…
Cry, The Beloved Country is one of those stories that is simply tragic and beautiful and heart-rending. It is the story of a black man and his son, struggling to survive in a country prejudiced against them. It is the story of a white man and his son, struggling to see a better way than the one of enforced division among people. It is a story of hopelessness and hopefulness – the two extremes entwined together in a bittersweet embrace.
This book made me think and feel deeply. It opened my eyes to the complex and varied situations that South Africa faced during the apartheid. It is written in a simple poetic way that is incredibly vivid and emotional. Moving and poignant, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about the apartheid or the history of South Africa. I’m giving this book 4* out of 5 and recommending it for ages 14+

“Ağla Sevgili Yurdum” modern Afrika edebiyatının klasiklerinden. Güney Afrikalı yazar Alan Paton ülkesi özelinde tüm Afrika’yı anlatmış aslında. Sömürü edebiyatının keskinliği yerine renk ayrımının yakıcılığını ön planda tutmuş romanında.

“Tanrı Afrikayı Kurtarsın” şarkısının bir milli marş olduğu Güney Afrika’daki siyah derili insanların bu şarkı ile kendilerini “adaletten korkan korkudan kurtarsın, insanlardan korkan korkudan kurtarsın” dediğini ifade ediyor. Hatta “beyazlar günün birinde sevgiye döndüklerinde, bizi nefrete dönmüş bulacaklar” şeklinde özetlediği düşüncelerini ötküye sindirmiş.

Biraz Hristiyanlık propagandası kokuyorsa da öykünün akıcılığını, öykü kahramanlarının başarılı tanımlarını ve öykünün gerçekçiliğini olumlu notlar olarak kaydettim. Bulunduğu kırsal ve fakir yerleşimden kurtuluş umuduyla ayrılıp Johannesburg’a kaçan ve orada cinayet işleyen oğlunu ve fahişelik yapan kızkardeşini aramaya çıkan siyahi rahip Kumalo’nun öyküsü yürek yakıyor.

Çok beğendim, öneririm.

3,5 stars. really interesting to Read more about the apartheid and All the nasty things That happened in South-Africa. Also, I Love Alan Patons style of writing. a little boring at Times but overall a good novel.

Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton
Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by Alan Paton, published in 1948.
In the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal province of eastern South Africa, the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg. He is needed there, the letter says, to help his sister, Gertrude, who the letter says has fallen ill. Kumalo undertakes the difficult and expensive journey to the city in the hopes of aiding Gertrude and of finding his son, Absalom, who traveled to Johannesburg from Ndotsheni and never returned. In Johannesburg, Kumalo is warmly welcomed by Msimangu, the priest who sent him the letter, and given comfortable lodging by Mrs. Lithebe, a Christian woman who feels that helping others is her duty. ...
عنوانها: بنال وطن؛ گریه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ مویه کن، سرزمین مجبوب؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و نهم ماه جولای سال 1973 میلادی
عنوان: مویه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: فریدون سالک؛ نادر ابراهیمی؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، 1348؛ در 353 ص؛ چاپ دوم 1357؛
عنوان: بنال وطن؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: سیمین دانشور؛ تهران، خوارزمی، 1351؛ در 291 ص؛ چاپ سوم 1354؛ چاپ پنجم اسفند 1361؛
عنوان: گریه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: هوشنگ حافظی پور؛ تهران، اردیبهشت، 1362؛ در 485 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، مثبت، 1383؛
داستان دربارهٔ مسئلهٔ تبعیض نژادی در آفریقای جنوبی است. دربارهٔ کشیشی فقیر و پیر به نام: استیون کومالو در روستای محروم و کوچک ایندوتشنی است که برای یافتن پسرش (ابسالم کومالو) به ژوهانسبورگ می‌رود. او متوجه می‌شود که پسرش دختر نوجوانی را باردار کرده و مدتی نیز در دارالتأدیب بوده است. کمی بعد پسرش را به جرم قتل یک مرد سفیدپوست بازداشت می‌کنند و ... ا. شربیانی

Just arrived from France through BM.

Page 105:
Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry laud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end.

Page 109:
And some cry for the cutting up of South Africa without delay into separate areas, where white can live without black, and black without white, where black can farm their own land and mine their own minerals and administer their own laws.

Page 111:
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.

Page 187:
We say we withhold education because the black child has not the intelligence to profit by it; we withhold opportunity to develop gifts because black people has no gifts; we justify our action by saying that it took us thousands of years to achieve our own advancement, and it would be foolish to suppose that it will take the black man any lesser time, and that therefore there is no need for hurry.

This is the 22nd book I’ve read in 2024, and it is by far my favorite of the year and, I would venture to say, of the past few years.

Upon receiving a letter, Stephen Kumalo, the pastor in a dying tribal village in South Africa, sets off for big, unknown Johannesburg to find his sister, brother, and son, all of whom over time moved there but have not been heard from since.

There, a tragedy changes his life forever and intertwines it with that of a powerful white man.

Paton masterfully, poetically, and observantly relates this profound and poignant story that explores the human heart, spirit, and condition with a beauty and power I have not encountered in a book in a long time.

This book was published in 1948, nearly 70 years ago, with a writing style that is clean, sparse, yet poetic (I believe Paton also wrote poetry) and this requires paying attention to every sentence (i.e. not a light read). It is also another book that doesn't use quotation marks (like The Night of the Hunter).
It examines the old system of apartheid in South Africa and the effects it had on the human level for both black and white.

If none of the above deters you, you might want to give a try, but be warned - the sadness and irony can be overwhelming at times, heartbreaking yet uplifting at the same time.

It is the story of two fathers, each with a son. All of them, fathers and sons, become victims of the conditions brought on by apartheid, but the reactions could be the same in any country with lines starkly drawn between rich and poor, regardless of race. The two narratives (white father and African father) and how they weave together is especially well done.

The blurb on the back of my copy of Cry, the Beloved Country calls it “the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history.” That’s probably true, and makes reviewing it seem a bit absurd. Paton doesn’t need my approval, but he gets it all the same.

I first read this book at school (I think most South African kids do) and I loved it then, and I was apprehensive it wouldn’t hold up so well now, but there’s even more to appreciate now that I’m more critical. I remember the language being unusual and formal and thinking that this was because it was written in 1946, but actually the language is heavily influenced by Zulu, as if the dialogue has been directly translated. I also loved the agility with which Paton shifts narrative voice and the way he keeps the interiority of the characters limited so we really feel what they are going through even if they won't discuss it .

Cry, the Beloved Country is a heartbreaking story. A rural pastor leaves Ixopo to search for his missing sister and son in Johannesburg, and finds them unraveling in the tragedy of 20th Century South African poverty, racism and crime. It’s depressing how much of this book is still relevant today but it’s also a beautiful story with love and forgiveness and hope in it. Very glad I came back to it.

This is one I wish I would have read long ago! Wonderfully written, thought-provoking, and though it was sorrowful subject matter, it was easy to read and understand. I recommend this one to all!

إبك, إيها البلد الحبيب, بقلم آلان باتون

المكان: جنوب أفريقيا, المشاكل: الأرض البوار, إختلال المجتمع القبلي-المدني, وكذلك الفصل العنصري, طبعا, أليست جنوب أفريقيا؟ أما الشخصية الرئيسية فهو رجل كنيسة, يتأمل, ويتألم, ويكابد لإنقاذ مايمكن إنقاذه.

تتحدث الرواية عن القسيس الذي يزور جوهانسبرج, بحثا عن أخته وابنه اللذيّن التقمتهم المدينة المفترسة, فيدخل في دوامة خطرة. نبرة الراوي محايدة, ترمي إلى التحليل بدلاً عن التجريح. كما يتضمن النص فرضيات عن مسببات تفاقم جرائم السكان الأصليين, و يسلط الضوء على معاناة شعب فقد الوشائج القبلية ولم يقدَّم له بديل, وفقد حقوله الخصبة في سبيل تمدن غير مدروس.

يهيمن شيطان الخوف على الأنفس في جوهانسبرج. الخوف من الظلم, من الجريمة, من إنهيار البلد الحبيب. وفي مقابل ذلك هناك دفء الوطنية الحقة, متجسدة في الناشطين السود الذين ينظمون الإضرابات والإعتصامات, وكذلك في البيض الذين يسعون إلى رأب الصدع وجمع الفرقاء. وفوق كل ذلك نرى وصفاً لفتنة الطبيعة الخلابة ممتزجة مع بساطة ساكني الريف فتمنح الذهن صفاء بعد الخوض في مدينة الجريمة والتشرد.

يُجمع العديد من النقاد على أن هذه الرواية بقلم باتون هي أهم رواية في الأدب الجنوب أفريقي. ربما! فهي رواية ناضجة, هادفة, مترعة بالنقد البنّاء. أضف إلى ذلك أنها متماسكة السرد, مرسومة الشخصيات. بالنسبة لي, هي رواية أقدّرها لكن لم أقع في هواها, فشتّان بين من يحتضنك بشغف ومن يصافحك باحترام.