The Reading Group
He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope
The Reading Group met on 2nd February at Kent House to discuss Anthony
Trollope's "He knew he was right".
The main story concerns the tragic outcome of an initially happy marriage which was wrecked by a combination of obstinacy on the part of both the husband and wife; interference by a mischievousmaking, vainglorious, character intent on massaging his own ego; and the social conventions of the time, particularly the idea that a wife was owned by her husband and must obey him. The wife refused to apologise on the grounds that she had done nothing wrong, the husband refused to apologise on the grounds that she had been disobedient to his orders, and ultimately the husbandŐs mental and physical health broke down completely. All this action took place over a period of several years and in different parts of this country and in Italy, but most of the group felt it was the various subplots that gave the novel life and interest and, to some extent, overshadowed the theme.
Trollope was a man who was up to date with the latest inventions and innovations of the time - letter boxes in the streets was an idea of his (when he had a Civil Service appointment at the Post Office, before he took up full-time writing), and he was widely travelled in the British Isles, Italy and America. Before the introduction of letter boxes you had to take your letters to a Post Office to send them, and indeed one of his characters in the book refused to put her letters in "one of those iron boxes". Railways as we know them were still being developed and to travel to Italy it was necessary to leave the train and take a diligence over the mountains.
The general consensus was that although this may not be the best example of Trollope's prolific output, it was still a jolly good read.
On Wednesday, 2 March, we will be reading Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mocking Bird" at the Hollingsworth's, and on Wednesday, 4 April, Jane Austen's "Persuasion" at Kent House.