[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-115378-en":3,"doc-seo-115378-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},115378,962084928432,"Emma Wilson","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",2,"Literature","Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton - Note on the Editions","A preface collection by Alan Paton across multiple editions explains the origins, title, and intended meaning of Cry, the Beloved Country. Paton traces the novel’s creation from Trondheim to San Francisco, describes how the title comes from recurring passages, and reflects on love that may become excessive. He characterizes the work as a song of love and longing for a distant land beyond suffering, while acknowledging historical context and clarifying which references are truthful or fictional.","Cry, the Beloved Country  \nALAN PATON  \nNote on the 1987 Edition  \nCry, the Beloved Country, though it is a story about South Africa, was not written in that country at all. It was begun in Trondheim, Norway, in September 1946 and finished in San Francisco on Christmas Eve of that same year. It was first read by Aubrey and Marigold Burns of Fairfax, California, and they had it put into typescript and sent it to several American publishers, one of them being Charles Scribner ’s Sons. Scribners’senior editor, Maxwell Perkins, accepted it at once.  \nPerkins told me that one of the most important characters in the book was the land of South Africa itself. He was quite right. The title of the book confirms his judgment.  \nHow did it get that title? After Aubrey and Marigold Burns had read it, they asked me what I would call it. We decided to have a little competition. We each took pen and paper and each of us wrote our proposed title. Each of us wrote “Cry, the Beloved Country.”  \nWhere did the title come from? It came from three or four passages in the book itself, each containing these words. I quote one of them:  \nCry, 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 ora valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.  \nThis passage was written by one who indeed had loved the earth deeply, by one who had been moved when the birds of his land were singing. The passage suggests that one can love a country too deeply, and that one can be too moved by the song of a bird. It is, in fact, a passage of poetic license. It  \noffers no suggestion as to how one can prevent these things from happening.  \nWhat kind of a book is it? Many other people have given their own answers to this question, and I shall give my own, in words written in another book of mine,For You Departed , published, also by Charles Scribner ’s Sons, in the year 1969 (published in London by JonathanCape with the titleKontakion for You Departed ) .  \nSo many things have been written about this book that I would not add to them if I did not believe that I know best what kind of book it is. It is a song of love for one’s far distant country, it is informed with longing for that land where they shall not hurt or destroy in all that holy mountain, for that unattainable and ineffable land where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, for the land that cannot be again, of hills and grass and bracken, the land where you were born. It is a story of the beauty and terror of human life, and it cannot be written again because it cannot be felt again. Just how good it is, I do not know and I do not care. All I know is that it changed our lives. It opened the doors of the world to us, and we went through.  \nAnd that is true. The success ofCry, the Beloved Country changed our lives. To put it in materialistic terms, it has kept us alive ever since. It has enabled me to write books that cost more to write than their sales could ever repay. So I write this with pleasure and gratitude.  \nAlan Paton  \nNATAL, SOUTHAFRICA Note on the 1959 Edition  \nIT IS SOME eleven years since the first Author ’s Note was written. The population of South Africa today is estimated to be about 15,000,000, of whom 3,000,000 are white, 1 ¼ millions are colored people, nearly ½ million are Indians, and the rest are Africans. I did not mention the Indians in the first Author ’s Note largely because I did not want to confuse readers unnecessarily, but the existence of this minority is now much better known throughout the world because their position has become so desperate under apartheid legislation.  \nThe City of Johannesburg has grown tremendously and today contains a","cbCaib7dX16S8RCo","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaib7dX16S8RCo","pdf",893780,3,1,263,"English","en",105,"# Note on the 1987 Edition\n## Origin and writing locations\n## The origin of the title\n## What kind of book it is\n# Note on the 1959 Edition\n## Demographic context under apartheid\n## Growth of Johannesburg\n## Ernest Oppenheimer and succession\n# Note on the 1948 Edition\n## Clarifying fictional persons and events\n## Social record versus truth\n## Writing process and study tour","[{\"question\":\"Where and when was Cry, the Beloved Country written?\",\"answer\":\"The author states it was begun in Trondheim, Norway, in September 1946 and finished in San Francisco on Christmas Eve that year.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the book get its title?\",\"answer\":\"Paton explains that after readers reviewed the manuscript, they proposed the same title; it came from passages in the book containing the words “Cry, the beloved country.”\"},{\"question\":\"Which parts of the story are true versus fictional?\",\"answer\":\"Paton clarifies that no persons are meant to be actual except two specified figures, and that related events combine truth and fiction; some elements are not true, though treated as a social record they are presented as straightforward truth.\"}]","Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton - Note on the Editions | PDF",1785472801,405,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":29},"cry-the-beloved-country-alan-paton-note-on-the-editions","",{"@graph":37,"@context":85},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,50],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/cry-the-beloved-country-alan-paton-note-on-the-editions/115378/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-15","2026-07-31",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Where and when was Cry, the Beloved Country written?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The author states it was begun in Trondheim, Norway, in September 1946 and finished in San Francisco on Christmas Eve that year.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How did the book get its title?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Paton explains that after readers reviewed the manuscript, they proposed the same title; it came from passages in the book containing the words “Cry, the beloved country.”",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Which parts of the story are true versus fictional?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Paton clarifies that no persons are meant to be actual except two specified figures, and that related events combine truth and fiction; some elements are not true, though treated as a social record they are presented as straightforward truth.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]