‘Midnight Missionary’ is a strange adventure into the heart of darkness of South Africa’s post-apartheid underworld of bars and brothels. The story follows one white man’s countless encounters with black prostitutes as he attempts to come to terms with his Calvinist upbringing and find a place in the new South Africa.

‘Midnight Missionary’ is the English translation of Kleinboer’s critically acclaimed Afrikaans book ‘Kontrei’ which, in 2004, won the Jan Rabie-Rapport prize for innovative prose. The novel is equally worthy of this accolade in translation — the carefully crafted prose is dynamic and captivating.

The novel, which is a combination of autobiographical commentary and a ‘letter’ by the protagonist to his brother reminiscing about their Calvinist upbringing, follows the life of one of the few remaining white men still living in Yeoville from 1998 to 2000.

The protagonist’s name is conspicuously absent in a narrative which meticulously gives the names and origins of all of the countless prostitutes he sleeps with. Living with his black girlfriend Thembi and her son Sipho, his life seems to revolve around drinking alcohol and having sex with prostitutes.

The book almost reads as a travelogue of the protagonist’s exploration into what is portrayed as the homogenous land of black female bodies. Seemingly liberal in his life with his black family and his preference for black prostitutes, there is something quietly disturbing about this character’s eroticization of the ‘black woman’s’ body.

As in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ the narrator’s journey leads only to the discovery of inner hollowness. His attempts at redefining himself by inscribing himself in and on the bodies of black women is ultimately futile.

Kleinboer has managed to manipulate an otherwise sordid and twisted subject matter so that it becomes palatable and intriguing. There is a rather voyeuristic element to accompanying the narrator as he has sex with literally hundreds of prostitutes.

While you almost recoil with disgust at his sexual pathology, you are at the same time captivated by his sexual conquests, entertained by his quirky musings and fascinated by his tender relationship with Sipho and his garden.

Gritty and unrelenting, this will no doubt prove to be a seminal work in post-apartheid South African literature.

Title: Midnight Missionary
Author: Kleinboer
Publisher: Zebra Press
ISBN: 1770071148