The Master

Colm Tóibín’s The Master (2004) is a biographical novel that details several years in the life of British American writer Henry James as he navigates personal and professional struggles. The text also provides a relatively accurate account of James’ creative process, family life, and fraught search for identity. As Tóibín explores James’s world and details the writing, editing, and publication of several of the famed author’s most widely read novels, the text explores themes related to The Pain of Repression and Self-Denial, The Lure of Solitude, and The Power of Art and the Creative Process. 

Tóibín is a prolific writer who is known for penning meditative, character-driven books that are rich in historical detail. The Master is not his only biographical novel, as he also authored The Magician (2021), a fictionalized account of the life of German writer Thomas Mann. Like The Master, this text examines the relationship between art and experience and provides an insider’s view into the creative process of one of the major figures of the Western literary canon. 

Tóibín has also written novels that put a modern spin on classic stories. His short novel, The Testament of Mary (2012), examines Jesus’s crucifixion from his mother Mary’s perspective. House of Names (2017) is a retelling of Greek tragedian Aeschylus’s Oresteia. However, Tóibín is best known for writing Brooklyn (2009) and Long Island (2024), two novels that follow a young Irish woman as she leaves Ireland and immigrates to the United States in search of a better life. Both novels were bestsellers, and Brooklyn was adapted into a film starring Saoirse Ronan. 

This guide refers to the 2005 paperback edition by Scribner. 

Content Warning: This guide contains discussions of the source text’s depiction of depression and suicide. 

A Note on Wording:  Throughout the guide, the fictionalized version of Henry James that Tóibín creates as the protagonist of the novel is referred to as “Henry,” while the last name, James, is used to indicate direct references to the historical figure of Henry James.

Plot Summary

Henry James is furiously preparing for the opening of his play, Guy Domville. He feels confident in his work as a novelist, but he worries about this foray into the world of drama. His worst fears are confirmed when his play is poorly received. He reflects that although his novels are well-regarded, they are not “popular,” and he realizes that although novelists can make a successful career out of intellectual “high art,” dramatists must produce works with a broader appeal. One of his contemporaries, Oscar Wilde, has been successful as a playwright, and Henry tells himself that he and Wilde are of equal talent, but Wilde is better able to capture the mind of the general public. Although wounded by his failure, Henry does his best to move on. He pulls himself out of melancholia by writing, drawing inspiration from his wide network of friends and family, and he soon finds himself consumed by a new project. 

Henry is solitary by nature and would rather stay home and write, but he accepts several invitations and heads to Ireland to stay with his friends, the Wolseleys. Lady Wolseley arranges for Henry to be attended to by Corporal Hammond, one of her husband’s manservants. Hammond and Henry engage in a flirtation that fills Henry with longing, but he feels that he cannot act on his amorous impulses, so he rebuffs Hammond’s discreet advances. Henry does his best to distract himself with work, and he finds further inspiration for his new story by observing the other guests. 

Henry returns to London and retreats to the solitude of his flat to continue writing. He reflects on the writing process and on his family history. Thinking back to his childhood, he recalls his troubled sister, Alice, and their confident, capable brother, William. He realizes now that although he and William were always markedly different in character, they do share a complex sense of self rooted in their family’s travel-heavy lifestyle. Although the family’s home base was Newport, Rhode Island, they were often in Europe. Henry, therefore, sees himself as both American and European, and he knows that William feels the same. 

As Henry continues to write, he is beset by a small but nagging worry about money. He has a modest income from his family’s assets, but it would behoove him to be at least moderately successful in his writing. He again compares himself to Oscar Wilde but learns that in spite of Wilde’s success, the famed writer is broke. Wilde also seems to be spending more than he makes, and Henry realizes that “success” is no guarantee of stability. Henry also watches Wilde’s indecency trial from afar, feeling grateful for his own sense of decorum and discretion when it comes to his hidden romantic interest in men. 

During the summer, London fills with American visitors. Henry does not always like this crowd; he finds that they lack the kind of cosmopolitanism typical of those who spend a considerable amount of time abroad. Still, he is happy to see his old friend, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. When Holmes visits, Henry recalls a previous moment of romantic tension that he shared with his friend and has never been able to forget. He and Holmes also both had great affection for Henry’s cousin, Minny, who became the inspiration for more than one of Henry’s female protagonists after her untimely death. Now, Henry is upset when Holmes accuses him of abandoning Minny during her last year of life by going off alone to Italy and failing to take her with him. He harshly contends that Henry’s neglect is in part to blame for Minny’s death, and he does not believe that Henry was as good a friend to Minny as he could have been. 

Henry struggles with this accusation and mulls it over as the seasons pass. Deciding that he is tired of traveling, he rents a stately home in Rye. He plans to live there for the rest of his life, while he rents out the flat that he keeps in London. Lady Wolseley helps him to find suitable furnishings for the house, and he begins to feel settled there. William sends him notice of a new Civil War memorial, and Henry recalls their brothers Bob and Wilky, who were both soldiers during the conflict. 

Constance Fenimore Woolson, one of Henry’s close friends, dies by suicide in Venice. Henry is deeply affected by the news, and he tries to distract himself with writing. He also begins to have staffing issues; two of his servants begin to drink heavily, so he ultimately has to fire them. 

His friend Lily visits, and because Constance struggled with depression before her death, Lily blames Henry for not supporting Constance more thoroughly. Like Holmes, Lily feels that Henry is not always a good friend. She is sure that Constance would have lived if Henry had been more attentive to her. Stung by this possibility, Henry reflects deeply on his friendship with Constance. Their relationship had remained platonic even though his family would have loved for him to marry her. Henry and Constance lived together for a time in Florence and maintained a regular correspondence whenever they were separated. Henry knows that Constance experienced debilitating depression, and he now wonders if Lily is right in her belief that he bears some blame in Constance’s choice to end her life. 

Henry travels to Paris with his niece. Feeling his age more acutely than he used to, he contemplates the passage of time and the changes that appear in familiar cities as the decades pass. When he returns to Italy, he makes similar observations. There, he meets a young sculptor named Henrik Andersen. Moved by Andersen’s youth and vitality, Henry quietly longs for a romantic relationship with him. He is sure that Andersen does not share his feelings, so he does not act on them. Instead, he buys one of Andersen’s pieces and then invites him back to his own home. Andersen visits, and although they enjoy their time together, Henry keenly feels the difference in their ages. 

William and his wife visit Henry. Initially, William is in poor health, but as he recovers, he and Henry talk about the past, their family, and William’s writing and lectures. They have not always agreed on important family matters, but Henry feels that he and his brother now have a solid relationship, and he is struck by the complex nature of familial bonds.