He Knew He was Right

Anthony Trollope

Penguin, 2004 - Fiction - 834 pages

Now serialised for television, He Knew He Was Right is widely acknowledged as one of Trollope's most striking achievements. The central theme of the novel is the sexual jealousy of Louis Trevelyan who unjustly accuses his wife Emily of a liaison with a friend of her father's. As his suspicion deepens into madness, Trollope gives us a profound psychological study in which Louis' obsessive delirium is comparable to the tormented figure of Othello, tragically flawed by self-deception. Against the disintegration of the Trevelyans' marriage, a lively cast of characters explore the ideas of female emancipation and how to distinguish between obedience and subjection. Although himself no supporter of women's rights, in this novel some of Trollope's most spirited characters are single women. Published in 1869, the same year as John Stuart Mills' The Subjection of Women and while the Divorce Act was a relative novelty, He Knew He Was Right was a timely novel, drawing a fine line between the obedience of women within marriage and their total possession by men.

About the author

Anthony Trollope was born in London, England on April 24, 1815. In 1834, he became a junior clerk in the General Post Office, London. In 1841, he became a deputy postal surveyor in Banagher, Ireland. He was sent on many postal missions ending up as a surveyor general in the post office outside of London. His first novel, The Macdermots of Ballycloran, was published in 1847. His other works included Castle Richmond, The Last Chronicle of Barset, Lady Anna, The Two Heroines of Plumplington, and The Noble Jilt. He died after suffering from a paralytic stroke on December 6, 1882. Sir John Frank Kermode, November 29, 1919 - August 17, 2010 John Kermode was a British literary critic best known for his work The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction, published in 1967 (revised 2000), and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing. He was the Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London and the King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University. Kermode served during World War II with the Royal Navy. After the war, Kermode held positions at Manchester University, Bristol University, University College of London, and Cambridge University, all in England, and at Columbia University in New York City. He was Charles E. Norton Professor at Harvard University in 1977-78 and Henry Luce Professor at Yale University in 1994. Kermode wrote several books on literary figures, including D.H. Lawrence and Wallace Stevens. His works of criticism include An Appetite for Poetry and The Art of Telling. Kermode was also the editor of the cultural journal, Encounter and his memoir, Not Entitled, was published in 1995. Kermode serves on the editorial board of the London Review of Books and Common Knowledge and has acted as judge for the Booker Prize. He was knighted for his service to English literature and he was named a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999. He died in Cambridge on August 17, 2010.

Bibliographic information

• Title: He Knew He was Right; Penguin classics
• Author: Anthony Trollope
• Editor: Frank Kermode
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Penguin, 2004
• ISBN: 0141017317, 9780141017310
• Length: 834 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary