Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by Alan Paton.

The original text

Cry, the Beloved Country is a 1948 novel by South African author Alan Paton.

The main theme of the novel, set in 1946, is summarised in Wikipedia [1]: ... a social protest against the structures of the society that would later give rise to apartheid. Paton attempts to create an unbiased and objective view of the dichotomies this entails: he depicts the Whites as affected by 'native crime', while the Blacks suffer from social instability and moral issues due to the breakdown of the tribal system. It shows many of the problems with South Africa such as the degrading of the land reserved for the natives, which is sometimes considered to be the main theme, the disintegration of the tribal community, native crime, and the flight to the urban areas. .

Translations and adaptations

Stage versions

Lost in the Stars [2] is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson (1888–1959)[3] and music by Kurt Weill (1900-1950)[4], based on the novel. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1949. An extract of the play was published in the anthology Reef of Time: Johannesburg in Writing edited by Digby Ricci, 1986.

In 1983 the novel was adapted for performance as a stage play in Botswana.

Cry, the Beloved Country is a 2003 play by Roy Sargeant, adapted from the novel of the same name by Alan Paton. The playscript, together with notes and activities for school use, was published in 2006 by Oxford University Press Southern Africa.

Film versions

Filmed in 1951 by Zoltan Korda, with a script by Alan Paton and (an uncredited) John Howard Lawson. Kumalo was played by Canada Lee, Jarvis by Charles Carson, and Msimangu by Sidney Poitier.