The Master - Colm Toibin
If you've been wary of reading a biographical novel, I suggest you wean yourself on Colm Toibin's The Master. I would have never believed that it is possible to dip into the consciousness of a Henry James and produce a book so believable that you cannot help but forget you are reading a biographical novel. For readers who have been swept away by Jamesian sentences and plots (is Jamesian an official dictionary entry yet? It should be, given how often it is tossed around), The Master, a Booker 2004 shortlistee, will be a special treat as Toibin effectively shows how James picked his ideas.
I first heard of The Master a year ago, in a David Lodge article in The Guardian. Lodge himself had written a biographical novel on Henry James titled Author, Author, which, incidentally was also published in 2004 . Until now, as I am writing this, it never struck me how appropriate Author, Author is as a title because Lodge's book, like Toibin's, focuses at some point on the failure of James as a playwright and the booing of his very first show of Guy Domville(1895). As the show ended, the crowd jeered, author, author.
Toibin does not provide one with the story of the master's life. Instead, he focuses on four years in the late 1890s, when James was already a renowned author, well into his fifties, already prone to anxieties of death. Toibin excels at showing James as an observer. In fact James is as much an observer in his own life as he is in the lives around him. Scenes that touch upon Alice James, Henry's trials of domesticity (with the Smiths) and his association with Constance Fenimore Woolson are especially well-treated. The pace of the book and its simple language also facilitate reader involvement.
I had read Fred Kaplan's Henry James: The Imagination of Genius a few months ago and was reasonably informed on the main events in the author's life. I found that background knowledge helpful in both understanding The Master as well as in appreciating how well Toibin has treated his subject. For anyone intending to read Henry James and supporting works, this book is a worthy investment of time.
Also, if you are looking for a proper review of the book, I recommend this wonderful one by Hermione Lee (yes, resisting Lee is impossible!)
