Like most Irish writers, Colm Toibin takes history seriously. Cultural heritage forms the backdrop of most of his novels, and it is these motifs – rather than the stories themselves – that Toibin is interested in. This has led to an eclectic back catalogue including short story collections, literary criticism and autobiographical work.
Of all of his collected titles, Toibin is perhaps best known for his Wexford novels – The Heather Blazing, The Story of the Night and The Blackwater Lightship – and for The Master – winner of the 2006 Dublin IMPAC Literary Award and a shortlist candidate for the 2004 Booker Prize – a fictionalised biography of the American writer Henry James and his lifelong apprehension, explored by many historians, to share the truth of his homosexuality. As an openly gay author, Toibin has further covered the topic when dealing with the likes of Oscar Wilde, regularly employs troubled gay characters in his predominantly historical novels and has also addressed the effects of family and the Catholic church in Ireland and abroad.
It is this variation in subject matter, these themes and perhaps the need to explore the narrative form that make Toibin an extremely relevant – albeit not the most commercially accessible – writer. Initially inspired by collections of Hemingway, Toibin describes his work as originating in silence and writes via a series of secluded, painful rituals. When questioned on his process by The Guardian in 2013, Toibin stated that “Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep – it can’t be done abruptly.”