Author Alan Paton Has Surgery in South Africa

Alan Paton, 85, the country’s best known author, was recovering today from surgery for an undisclosed ailment, a press report said.

Paton, whose 1948 novel “Cry, The Beloved Country” drew a compelling picture of apartheid in South Africa, was in “fairly serious condition” after Tuesday’s operation at a Durban hospital, according to an unidentified heart surgeon quoted by the South African Press Assn.