Critical Essay Cry Beloved Country

one of the best novels of our time.' Sterne identified Paton's novel as an important work of African colonial literature.

one of the best novels of our time.' Sterne identified Paton's novel as an important work of African colonial literature.

First and foremost, Contemporary critics, literary scholars, and African authors identify Paton's novel as a work of colonial literature, an important social record of life in South Africa at the dawn of apartheid.

Secondly, reviews and critique never fail to mention the novel's lyrical style.

Throughout the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, Paton uses suffering and the quest for the son together to add to the tragic framework of the novel.

Paton uses suffering, an element derived from Greek tragedy in which the main...

' The novel was also criticized for grandstanding, calling it a 'sentimental and propagandistic' treatise.

Some South Africans disliked the narrow perspective of the narrative, Stephen Kumalo the old pastor.

Cry, the Beloved Country made an impact on readers when it first appeared in print in 1948 of its portrayal of South Africa from the native point of view.

South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele noted Paton's novel as 'the first work in the history of South African fiction in which the black man looms so large.' It has been called a social record.

It's impossible to know what readers will have to say about your novel.

Even before Alan Paton signed his contract with American publishing house Scribner, the manuscript for Cry, the Beloved Country had already garnered praise from readers.