“We come from two different places: the geographical one, the city and family we were born in, and the place of dreams.” The dualism between reality and imagination is a central matter in Colm Toibin's writing. In The Magician, he writes about public figures such as Henry James and Thomas Mann. To do this he had to merge the external image of confident and powerful men with their inner insecurities and passions, revealed with the publishing of their diaries and personal letters. Toibin analyses the “inner life” of people we are used to thinking of with certain prejudices: a judge has not always been a serious, severe person; each was once a baby who grew up making mistakes and wrong judgements.

A novel is the process of building a conscience: the plot is not particularly relevant to the writer. As Christian Mascheroni noted, the results are authentic, real books in which Toibin is concealed behind his characters, avoiding the place of the protagonist. “When you want to say something you have to make sure it is interesting” and thus it is the writer’s decision to interpret the “white page” as a mirror or not, depending on how “interesting” one considers their inner life. Toibin comes across as ironic and yet profound in his assessments.

The reader must retain a sense of illusion, which can only come from what remains unsaid. Silences and pauses are thus crucial in a novel, just as much as in music. “The reader reads silently and the writer writes silently. And yet there is a sound.” Literature provides several examples of the “music” that plays behind the novels; from Greek theatre to Kafka and to Tomasi di Lampedusa. Toibin points out the rhythm in the “Gattopardo” lines: “Everything must change, so that everything can be the same”.