Representations of masculinity in Achmat Dangor’s Strange Pilgrimages: exploring affect and emotion in “Skin Costs Extra” and “Goodbye, Midnight”

Abstract This article offers a close reading of Achmat Dangor’s stories “Skin Costs Extra” and “Goodbye, Midnight” from the perspective of masculinity studies and affect theory. It argues that Dangor’s stories describe post-apartheid masculinities by exploring the lingering influence of patriarchal and hegemonic gender patterns on male-female relationships. Dangor’s male protagonists adopt these notions of masculinity in the hope that it will give them a sense of agency. Attached to the privileges of hegemonic masculinity, they also feel the confines of this gender formation, even if they do not express this awareness in an overt way. This sense of limitation imposed by their masculinities is analyzed on the level of affect and emotion. To that end, the article juxtaposes those two notions by referring to chosen critical perspectives on affect studies, including those by Brian Massumi, Todd Reeser, Lucas Gottzén, and others.