In the Spotlight: Colm Toibin

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The Book: Like Michael Cunningham in The Hours, Colm Tóibín captures the extraordinary mind and heart of a great writer. Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of a man born into one of America's first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late nineteenth century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers.

In stunningly resonant prose, Tóibín captures the loneliness and the hope of a master of psychological subtlety whose forays into intimacy inevitably failed those he tried to love. The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.

"The work of a first-rate novelist artful, moving and very beautiful." -- The New York Times Book Review

"A spectacular novel." -- Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones

"A gorgeous portrait of a complex and passionate man." -- Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

"Tóibín takes us almost shockingly close to the mystery of art itself. A remarkable, utterly original book." -- Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours

"A marvel." -- John Updike, The New Yorker

"A deep, lovely, and enthralling book that engages with the disquiet and drama of a famous writing life." -- Shirley Hazzard, author of The Great Fire 

Amazon: The Master: A Novel

Other Books in the List:

Mothers and Sons (2008) 
Amazon: Mothers and Sons: Stories

Love in a Dark Time (2004)
Amazon: Love in a Dark Time: And Other Explorations of Gay Lives and Literature 

The Author: Colm Tóibín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɔl̪ˠəmˠ t̪ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ]) (born 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland) is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist and critic.

Colm Tóibín was born in the southeast of Ireland. He was the second youngest of five children. His grandfather, Patrick Tobin, was a member of the Irish Republican Army, as was his grand-uncle Michael Tobin. Patrick Tobin took part in the 1916 Rebellion in Enniscorthy and was subsequently interned in Frongoch in Wales. Colm Toibin's father was a teacher who was involved in the Fianna Fáil party in Enniscorthy.

Tóibín received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford, where he was a boarder between 1970 and 1972. He progressed to University College Dublin, and graduated in 1975. Immediately after graduation, he left for Barcelona.

Tóibín's first novel, 1990's The South, was partly inspired by his time in the Barcelona; as was, more directly, his non-fiction Homage to Barcelona (1990). Having returned to Ireland in 1978, he began to study for a Masters. However, he did not submit his thesis and left academia, at least partly, for a career in journalism.

The early 1980s were an especially bright period in Irish journalism, and the heyday for the monthly news magazine Magill. Tóibín became the magazine's editor in 1982, and remained in the position until 1985.

The Heather Blazing (1992), his second novel, was followed by The Story of the Night (1996) and The Blackwater Lightship (1999). His fifth novel, The Master (2004), is a fictional account of portions in the life of author Henry James. In 2006 his first collection of short stories was published as Mothers and Sons, and was reviewed favourably (including by Pico Iyer in The New York Times). He is the author of other non-fiction books: Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border (1994), (reprinted from the 1987 original edition) and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994).

He has written a play that was staged in Dublin in August 2004, Beauty in a Broken Place.

He has continued to work as a journalist, both in Ireland and abroad. He has also achieved a reputation as a literary critic: he has edited a book on Paul Durcan, The Kilfenora Teaboy (1997); The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999); and has written The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950 (1999), with Carmen Callil; a collection of essays, Love in A Dark Time: Gay lives from Wilde to Almodóvar (2002); and a study on Lady Gregory, Lady Gregory's Toothbrush (2002).

Tóibín is a member of Aosdána and has been visiting professor at Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. He has also lectured at several other universities, including Boston College and New York University. In 2008 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) at the University of Ulster in recognition of his contribution to contemporary Irish Literature. (From Wikipedia)

http://www.colmtoibin.com/
 
Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

Comments

[marquesate.livejournal.com]

Colm Toibin's writing is absolutely fantastic. His style is amazing in its brittle efficiency which still conjures up rich imagery and the characters' emotions are evoked with few words but in such a way that the reader's context cannot help but supply the inner worlds where they have been left unsaid and fragile. I was left to guess and to think and to wonder, and it touched me deeply.

I don't read fiction, as everyone knows, I only write it, but I read Toibin (thanks to repeated recommendations by my best friend and I am glad that I followed his advice, and especially his "Mothers and Sons" left a lasting expression.

I bow my head and lift my beret (wrong imagery ;-) I salute to Toibin, he is a master of language and he had me enthralled in his web of words.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

COlm Toibin's books are almost out of place in my little "romance" place, since they are for sure Big Literature. So I feel honored to feature him today. Elisa

[valkovalin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for bringing to my attention someone I would not have known about -- and I feel a little embarrassed that I'm unfamiliar with an author of what seems to be significant fame! :) Also, I'm in awe of how many of these 100 books you've managed to review! You're setting a great example for me!

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Oh no, don't get me wrong! Not all of the book I featured in this appointment I read, I use that list as much as other people do, to find possible new author. Colm Toibin for example, I didn't read yet his books. When other than feature the book and the author, I also read the book, I post the review (My review) or include the link. In this appointment I'm as much as a spectator as you ;-)

[valkovalin.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's true in the case of Colm Toibin, but I was talking about all those books on the list where you've included a link to your review. You've managed to review a lot! I'm impressed. I think seeing your example and Kassa's has helped me to be more productive on my website. It's a good thing!