The Master (2004)

I know this looks really weird and everything, but apparently it's pretty great. Fictionalized bio of Henry James. Just, y'know, if I read him maybe I'll check this out too.

About midway through “The Master”, Tóibín describes Henry James reflecting about a new story he is to write for “Collier’s Magazine”, contemplating the nature of the narrator’s voice. Writes Tóibín: “He [James] wanted a voice that every reader would automatically believe and trust, but also a literary style redolent of fifty years earlier…broken intermittently by simple vivid sentences” (p139).

That very objective that Tóibín has James setting for himself is what Tóibín accomplished to perfection in “The Master”. Tóibín gives us Henry James’ voice, believable and trustworthy, in a style “redolent” of the writing style both of James and of the late XIX Century.

Indeed, Tóibín soars in my mind precisely because he accomplishes that goal in all of his fictional works. His narrators are real people of flesh and blood whom we do trust and believe in even in the depth of their struggles and conflicts. And they are set effortlessly in their time and space, fully integrated with a language that is rooted in a real time, a time absolutely authentic for the protagonists.

“The Master” is a novelistic recreation of four years of Henry James life: the period from 1895 through 1899, before he writes several of his more definitive novels and during the time he moves into Lamb House in Rye, East Sussex, England. As Tóibín moves James through those four years, he sweeps the reader back through James own personal history, discussing the events, people, family and friends who enlaced the writer’s life up to his middle 50s. By the end of the novel, the reader has an enriched understanding of one of the key literary figures of the XIX Century.

For me, Tóibín is one of the most effective and skillful writers of our age. “The Master” is certainly a product of Tóibín at the heights of his talents. It was not, however, my preferred of his works. I prefer the contemporary voices of the people whom Tóibín moves through such novels as “The Story of the Night”, Brooklyn” and “The Blackwater Lightship”. But that is merely my own personal preference, not a negative criticism of “The Master”.
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I loved this book. I thought Tóibín did a beautiful job adapting his style to one that was evocative of Henry James, although more easily readable. The novel moves with James to London, Ireland, Italy, and Rye, and effectively integrates James' memories of the past in flashbacks that come as responses to his relationships, tensions, and interactions with others.

Tóibín has been described as a writer who is keenly interested in his characters' psychology and relationships, and this interest comes to the fore in The Master. James emerges very much as an isolated figure. He worries about how he appears to others, he struggles to maintain his composure, and in his zeal to maintain his privacy, he shies away from intimate relationships with others inside and outside of his family. He even (or especially) shields himself from knowledge of his true identity, particularly with regards to his sexuality. Tóibín's style, restrained and formal, beautifully (and sadly) conveys James' isolation and separation.

Finally, I also found Tóibín's depiction of James's writing process to be revealing. Through chapters that focus on James's relationships with important figures in his life, including his sister Alice, Tóibín explores ways in which James used his writing to communicate with, remember, and in some cases make amends to ghosts in his life. I was left thinking about the limitations on intimacy that this approach can lead to - the barriers a writer can erect by being an observer rather than an active participant, the instrumentality of relationships formed and experiences sought primarily to provide material for a novel or play, and the betrayal felt by friends and family when they read James's work only to see themselves appearing as characters. ( )

This is a slightly fictionalized account of the later years of novelist Henry James’ solitary life. He struggles to balances his social life and his desire for solitude. He represses his sexuality, never allowing anyone to become too close. He lives in the sea of regrets and guilt, blaming himself for the unhappiness of so many others. He’s never happy with all the choices he has made or the number of successes and failures he’s had. He grieves the loss of friends and family members. He avoids conflict at any cost, often sacrifices his own comfort in life to avoid confrontation. The end result is a man that’s difficult to connect to.

It’s a very cold book. It reminded me a little bit of The Remains of the Day, in which an English butler reminisces about the past. But unlike that book, The Master lacked the beautiful language that made Remains so captivating. It’s a poignant reminder that refusing to live an honest life can make a person very lonely.

BOTTOM LINE: The book may be an accurate representation of how Henry James lived his life, but it’s hard for a reader to be drawn into the world of someone who keeps themselves completely separate.

** I think that having read a lot of James’ work would add to your appreciation of the book. ( )

Fabulous! ( )