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* In ''Literature/TheyBothDieAtTheEnd'', after Mateo gets a call informing him that he's going to die within 24 hours, he goes to visit his father in the hospital one last time. He gets offended when a hospital employee tells him that his father is in a coma, as he's been for the past two weeks, and wonders if the employee is new.
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* An odd moment in ''Literature/DivineSecretsOfTheYaYaSisterhood", where Viviane has just been sent away to boarding school, and her friend writes her a letter in which she mentions that their other two friends are "sitting on the porch with your brother, Pete". Viviane only has one brother and obviously knows his name, and he's mentioned by name earlier in the same letter to boot, so it's unclear why her friend would feel the need to be this specific.
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* TheNarrator of ''Literature/JulianComstock'' leaves a footnote apologizing for explaining events that his reader is likely to be familiar with, but says he's also writing for the benefit of any foreigners who might read it, or readers in the far future. InUniverse the class-divided nature of American society means that things often have to be explained; for instance, the title character explains the cause of the war in Labrador to soldiers from the landless classes who are illiterate and therefore don't read newspapers.
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Crosswicking
* ''Literature/TheWitches'': During the Grand High Witch's explanation of her plan to wipe out all the children in England, she tells her audience that "money is not a problem to us witches as you know very well" because [[CounterfeitCash she prints her own money for them]]. This is done to remind the audience that the Grand High Witch has a money-printing machine after it was initially brought up by the protagonist's Grandmama a few chapters earlier.
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'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!
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'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!sister!
----
----
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* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': Early on, King Fulrach informs Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress of the plot-inciting crisis they're already investigating, peppered with several repetitions of "You know this"; thanks to ExactEavesdropping, this is also how the protagonist learns who his "Aunt Pol" and "Mister Wolf" [[LivingLegend truly are]]. It's {{Justified|Trope}} because Fulrach also has the unenviable job of telling them that the other monarchs have summoned them for an audience due to the crisis, and is trying to placate them.
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another example
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* ''Literature/ThePersonalLibrarian'': Belle sometimes uses "As you surely know..." in arguments to point out a fact that the other character has neglected or refused to take into account.
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* In the RomanceNovel, ''Literature/RoseOfRapture'' the hero and the heroine watch the coronation of UsefulNotes/RichardIII and engage in a long conversation laying out the various suspects with regard to TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower, with various as-you-knows.
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* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': Norix, Tasia's tutor, reminds her about what she's already been told regarding a future husband of hers potentially [[HeirInLaw being made the heir]].
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* Within the first chapter of the original ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' book a character tells shares "As you know, [Entire history of the world]". For in-universe purposes, it's used as a CallForward, as the narrator later tells the "real" history of the universe, adding in things that were omitted from the widely-known history.
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* Within the first chapter of the original ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' book a character tells shares "As you know, [Entire history of the world]". For in-universe purposes, it's used as a CallForward, as the The narrator later tells the "real" history of the universe, adding in things that were omitted from the widely-known history.
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* OlderThanFeudalism: Occurs in ''Literature/TheBible'', when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest..." According to commentaries, the extensive exposition was given either a) to soften the blow of the request to sacrifice him, or b) to increase Abraham's reward, as he was rewarded for every word of the request.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
* Subverted by Deule, the narrator of ''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'', who prefaces some of his exposition this way. He's actually presenting new information to the person he's talking to, but it would be improper for Deule to admit that his new lord doesn't know something he should.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
* Subverted by Deule, the narrator of ''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'', who prefaces some of his exposition this way. He's actually presenting new information to the person he's talking to, but it would be improper for Deule to admit that his new lord doesn't know something he should.
to:
* OlderThanFeudalism: Occurs in ''Literature/TheBible'', when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest..." According to commentaries, the extensive exposition was given either a) to soften the blow of the request to sacrifice him, or b) to increase Abraham's reward, as he was rewarded for every word of the request.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
*''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'': Subverted by Deule, the narrator of ''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'', Deule, who prefaces some of his exposition this way. He's actually presenting new information to the person he's talking to, but it would be improper for Deule to admit that his new lord doesn't know something he should.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
*
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* Broud, the newly selected leader of ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'', calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
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* ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'': Broud, the newly selected leader of ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'', leader, calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
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*** Justified again in the third ''Science'' book, when Ponder's reports on the situation go ignored and he has to explain himself all over again on the spot, using this trope to let his colleagues save face.
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* Beaten to death by Creator/DavidWeber. Every single ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book has this at least once, maybe twice. It's particularly painful, because most of these recaps appear to be at the end of a meeting that ''just talked about the recapped stuff''. These meetings often take up a chapter, and their sole purpose is just to recap the situation, tell the reader what everyone's going to do, and [[PurpleProse use more adjectives than anyone ever would in a normal conversation]].
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* Beaten to death by Creator/DavidWeber. ''Literature/AHoleInTheFence'': As telling Grisón how he was adopted, his adoptive mother Flammèche explains that Albert talked her into taking him in, before adding: "As you know, Albert is my father."
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Every single''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book has this at least once, maybe twice. It's particularly painful, because most Most of these recaps appear to be at the end of a meeting that ''just talked about the recapped stuff''. These meetings often take up a chapter, and their sole purpose is just to recap the situation, situation and tell the reader what everyone's going to do, and [[PurpleProse use more adjectives than anyone ever would in a normal conversation]].do.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Every single
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** In the ''Daily Prophet'', Muggle terms are occasionally defined to the readers: a gun is a "kind of metal wand which Muggles use to kill each other", and a policeman is "a Muggle law-keeper".
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** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the text reminds the reader of the purpose of Polyjuice Potion, which becomes significant near the end of the book. This reminder is missing in the film, which would make the film harder to understand for somebody who had not seen ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''.
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%%*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': Characters spend a lot of time explaining the Three Laws of Robotics to each other.
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*** "{{Literature/Risk}}": The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
*** "{{Literature/Runaround}}": When trying to figure out what went wrong with their robot, Donovan and Powell review the situation they're in, which Dr Asimov uses as an opportunity for {{Exposition}} about [[ThreeLawsCompliant the three Rules of Robotics]].
*** "{{Literature/Runaround}}": When trying to figure out what went wrong with their robot, Donovan and Powell review the situation they're in, which Dr Asimov uses as an opportunity for {{Exposition}} about [[ThreeLawsCompliant the three Rules of Robotics]].
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*** "{{Literature/Risk}}": "Literature/{{Risk}}": The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
***"{{Literature/Runaround}}": "Literature/{{Runaround}}": When trying to figure out what went wrong with their robot, Donovan and Powell review the situation they're in, which Dr Asimov uses as an opportunity for {{Exposition}} about [[ThreeLawsCompliant the three Rules of Robotics]].Robotics]].
%%*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': Characters spend a lot of time explaining the Three Laws of Robotics to each other.
***
%%*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': Characters spend a lot of time explaining the Three Laws of Robotics to each other.
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* In ''Literature/TheFamousFive'' book ''Five on Kirrin Island Again'', Dick finds out that Mr Curton is a journalist, and tells Anne that it means somebody who writes for newspapers.
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* ''Literature/Area51'': In several cases necessary information is given to the reader by repeating things characters already know. Sometimes it's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], such as Mualama's nephew Lago (whom he does this with) feeling annoyed that he's getting another lecture on things he's aware of (his uncle is a professor). Mostly though it's given by other means, such as briefings or discoveries conveyed to characters that didn't know about it.
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* ''[[Literature/NationalLampoonsDoon Doon]]'' is a {{Parody}} of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', which, as noted below, is notorious for its volumes of As You Know. The parody reflects this.
-->"Come, come , Peter," the Baron chid. "Surely there is no flaw in my plan. Review it for the benefit of this lad, Filp-Rotha, my nephew -- I being, in fact, his uncle, the Baron Vladimir Hardchargin, who is who I, myself, am."
-->"Come, come , Peter," the Baron chid. "Surely there is no flaw in my plan. Review it for the benefit of this lad, Filp-Rotha, my nephew -- I being, in fact, his uncle, the Baron Vladimir Hardchargin, who is who I, myself, am."
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* Broud, the newly selected leader of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
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* Broud, the newly selected leader of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'', calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
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* ''Literature/DragonlanceTheNewAdventures'': The first book is prone to this, with Elidor explaining the different subraces of elves and Sindri the different schools of wizardry. Justified since Nearra is an AmnesiacHero.
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[[folder:Literature]]
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'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!
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[[/folder]]
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'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!
[[/folder]]sister!
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Literature]]
!! By Author
* SF writer Creator/PoulAnderson called this an "idiot lecture", in the sense that either the lecturer must be an idiot, or the lecturer must think the lecturee is an idiot. Nevertheless Anderson used the device often at the beginning of short stories, usually to establish historical details when an operative was briefed by a superior. Lampshaded at least once via the lecturee thinking to himself "He must think I'm an idiot!" and similar. In more than one Anderson story, such a speech is delivered ''to an enemy'' and reveals something that really ought not to be revealed to an enemy ("and that's why we 'elves' can't stand iron"), followed by "added hastily" in a blatant (yet always successful) attempt to distract from said revelation.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries''' "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces": Trader Mallow and his friend, the retired Trader Jaim Twer, discuss an upcoming Seldon crisis. As Seldon and [[ThePlan his Plan]] is a required part of a lay education on Terminus, the fact that Mallow had to explain it to his "friend" helped him deduce that Twer had been trained as a priest, not a layman, and is working for Jorane Sutt.
** Literature/RobotSeries:
%%*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': Characters spend a lot of time explaining the Three Laws of Robotics to each other.
*** ''Literature/IRobot'': The viewpoint narrator of the FramingDevice often reviews information or prompts Dr Calvin to share colloquial knowledge. This helps the audience know background information, and is justified by the viewpoint character [[MostWritersAreWriters being a reporter who plans on writing the interview for public consumption]].
*** "{{Literature/Risk}}": The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
*** "{{Literature/Runaround}}": When trying to figure out what went wrong with their robot, Donovan and Powell review the situation they're in, which Dr Asimov uses as an opportunity for {{Exposition}} about [[ThreeLawsCompliant the three Rules of Robotics]].
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren'' opens with a meeting of Howard Foundation members where one character goes on for several pages, detailing the history of the foundation, its goals, and his plans for the future. While very interesting (to the reader), the entire monologue is framed as an As You Know. As the characters are all extremely long-lived and therefore very patient, they don't mind too much. He is however called on it by Lazarus Long, who has better things to do - [[LovableSexManiac mostly involving sex]].
** Inverted in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. It's used toward the reader as an excuse to skip exposition. Specifically, Rico's narration skips over a lot about the powered armor by telling the reader "But if you really are interested in the prints and stereos and schematics of a suit's physiology, you can find most of it, the unclassified part, in any fairly large public library." On the other hand in the ActionPrologue their sergeant goes over the plan of attack even though it's been hypnotically implanted in the troopers, as "some of you don't have minds to hypnotise."
* One of Creator/HPLovecraft's literary quirks was his extreme aversion to writing dialogue. Thus, when he absolutely had to write about two characters talking, he instead only wrote one person's lines, which inevitably contained all the content of the other party's responses, as well.
* Novelist Creator/HarryTurtledove has a tendency to fall into this trap in his multi-volume alternative history epics (such as the ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' and ''Literature/{{Timeline 191}}'' series); he will often recap complicated alternative histories and the plots of two, three or more previous novels in the series by having characters engage in conversations or think to themselves about things that they would already know.
!! By Work
* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', Orwell uses the very clever trick of getting the basic facts explained to us by the [[FictionalDocument secret book]] of [[LaResistance the Brotherhood]], which works as a subversive primer to the indoctrinated population. We learn later on that [[spoiler: the Brotherhood and the Inner Party are the same, so everything in the book could be wrong too..]].
* MrExposition tells the protagonist her own life story in ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground''.
* A ''lot'' of {{exposition}} in the ''Literature/AlexisCarew'' series is done by having people explain things to the protagonist. {{Justified|Trope}} since Alexis grew up on a backwater colony world and until joining the New London Royal Navy had cared more about crop prices and farming and logging techniques than about space travel and international politics and history.
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' the first chapter is usually dedicated to the RotatingProtagonist explaining the series' concept (the Earth is being invaded by {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s, they [[{{Animorphism}} turn into animals]] to fight them, etc.) Clearly this is being done for people who picked up the books out of order, but by the last few entries the narrators start throwing in "but you know this already."
* ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'': S.D. Towers fills the reader in on the entire {{Backstory}} of the Empire of Durdane by devoting most of a chapter to covering a History class.
* In ''Literature/TheBadGuys'' book "The Furball Strikes Back", Mr. Wolf explains the plan to stop the bulldozers threatening to destroy the forest, much to the annoyance of Mr. Snake, who knows the plan already, as Mr. Wolf has been repeating it over and over. Turns out, he's been repeating it because Mr. Shark keeps forgetting key details about it.
* ''[[Literature/TheFirstLaw Before They Are Hanged]]'' includes an early briefing for military officers ending, "That fortress, as we all know, is already in the hands of the enemy." This is an aversion, as the officers in question are useless nobles who have only the faintest grasp of the war. The briefing officer is a commoner who rose through the ranks and has enough sense not to say, "as you ought to know."
* OlderThanFeudalism: Occurs in ''Literature/TheBible'', when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest..." According to commentaries, the extensive exposition was given either a) to soften the blow of the request to sacrifice him, or b) to increase Abraham's reward, as he was rewarded for every word of the request.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
* Subverted by Deule, the narrator of ''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'', who prefaces some of his exposition this way. He's actually presenting new information to the person he's talking to, but it would be improper for Deule to admit that his new lord doesn't know something he should.
* In ''Literature/ChildhoodsEnd'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke, the character Jan Rodricks explains the theory of relativity to his sister in a very long letter, which she should already know, seeing as how this was a highly scientifically advanced society, almost to the point of dystopia.
* Dicken's ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' and any [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol parody/homages]] to it. Because of the time travel aspect of voyeuring into people's lives it somewhat requires them to explain the situation to each other in order to further the plot.
* Broud, the newly selected leader of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'':
** The fundamentals of furycrafting are presented by Tavi to Max as if it's a necessary refresher because he's such a bad student.
** The author has noted that there were some significant bits of backstory and world-building that he ended up leaving out or delaying in order to avoid slipping into this trope. He took four books to explain that "-ar" at the end of someone's surname name meant they were illegitimate, and never got round to explaining that the line of Gaius had restarted at "Primus" dozens of times in the past (with Gaius Sextus being the fourth First Lord with that name) because all of the viewpoint characters would have already known all about it from basic history classes.
* Used to lead off the briefing [[spoiler:on the VX nerve gas]] at the beginning of ''[[Literature/PaladinOfShadows A Deeper Blue]]''. Given a LampshadeHanging a few paragraphs later with the acknowledgement of the speaker that he's covering old ground for those at the briefing.
* In ''Literature/DestinedToLead'' book 2, ''Healing'', Resurge, the ProudWarriorRace guy uses this trope to explain why he knows who on Mysterium 'Gakkar' is, and by extension the giant stone golem they are conversing with.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Played with in ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'', where Ponder, speaking to the senior wizards, precedes his [[MrExposition explanation]] of [[MagicAIsMagicA fundamental Discworld physics]] with "As I'm sure you know", but only out of politeness. A footnote explains that what he actually means is "I'm not sure you know this..."
*** Justified again in the third ''Science'' book, when Ponder's reports on the situation go ignored and he has to explain himself all over again on the spot, using this trope to let his colleagues save face.
** ''{{Literature/Wintersmith}}'': Tiffany ends up having to do this to KnowNothingKnowItAll Anagramma, because just asking her to show you how to do something just results in a lot of stalling until she says she has a migraine.
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' is as appallingly loaded with As You Know as any book ever written.
** The chapter where the villain first appears consists entirely of As You Know dialogue, complete with having the villain ''introduce himself'' to his chief henchman: "Is it not a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, do?" Justified by Baron Harkonnen being so fond of describing plans that at one point he ''himself'' admits to it being a flaw.
** "The Spice must flow!" (Usually accompanied by a summary of its multipurpose nature.)
* Played with during the last part of George Stewart's ''Literature/EarthAbides''. The protagonist, Ish, is now an old man, spending most of his time in a mental fog, cared for by others. When this fog lifts, Ish discusses the current state of the Tribe with Jack, his great-grandson and caretaker. Almost every answer Jack offers is punctuated with, "...as you yourself well know, Ish," even though Ish is, at this point, as clueless as the reader.
* Justified in ''Literature/FitzpatricksWar'' as the general history of how the world turned into a post-apocalyptic steampunk Neo-British Empire-dominated dystopia [[LectureAsExposition is recited in a verbal exam]] by the novel's protagonist, Robert Mayfair Bruce. Coincidentally, Bruce was shocked to have gotten such an easy topic.
* An early scene in ''Literature/TheFold'' shows the teleportation project team in front of the oversight board that decides whether they'll get an extension on their research grant. The occasion is used to walk the audience through the theory and past few years of work for the project, despite the fact that the oversight board should know all this from previous meetings. Further, the board is ''surprised'' when the project lead points out that their years-old contract keeps all data and documentation subject to the team's discretion.
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', the title character receives a letter from his adopted sister which tells him his own life story in nauseating detail. The phrase "You will recall..." pops up a few times. Likewise there's one that begins along the lines of, "I'm sure you remember our young maid, Justine, but in case you don't..."
* In ''Literature/TheFurtherAdventuresOfBatman'', the short story "Literature/SubwayJack" has Bruce explaining rather obvious things to Alfred, such as mud getting tracked in by the murderer, who then treats him to [[ServileSnarker a bit of snark]].
* James Hogan rather neatly avoids this trope while still managing to do huge Infodumps in his ''Ganymede'' series, by managing things so that there's always someone present who justifiably needs the infodump, whether it's a biologist getting briefed on extremely advanced physics, a physicist being brought up to speed on political matters, or a businessman being briefed on the fine points of biochemistry. It helps that Hogan's got a huge multi-disciplinary team to work with, and better, the main character is a man whose biggest talent is his ability to cross-correlate information from many areas without being a specialist in any of them himself. This means he often specifically ''requests'' an infodump from a specialist.
* Done in the first chapter of ''Literature/TheGreatPacificWar''. The Japanese cabinet meets to discuss the dangerous riots and the seeds of revolt that are gaining strength, and the Premier opens by saying "As you know, our country is experiencing dangerous riots, and the revolts are gaining in strength."
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** At the very beginning of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] have a discussion about things each one of them knows in detail. Of special mention are the specifics of the war they have just been fighting, the introduction of the villain's name, which has a vague justification, and telling Dumbledore he's noble, just to establish him as a [[BigGood good guy]] in the books. Also, they refer to each other by last names, while they are on first-name terms in later books and have known each other for decades. The scene with Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] is mostly gratuitous, in that most relevant details in that scene are also covered later, being told to Harry directly; and it refers to a lot of things that aren't apparent until later books, [[ChekhovsGunman like Sirius Black.]]
** This also shows up in a peculiar form (you might call it an inversion) partway through ''Philosopher's Stone'', when Hermione is telling Ron and Harry about the Philosopher's Stone, which can be used to achieve immortality. [[ParrotExposition Ron repeats the word "immortal" in surprise]], only for Hermione to explain "It means you'll never die," just in case any of the kids in the audience don't know that word. Ron gets indignant and says "I ''know'' what it means," because there's really no reason for him not to.
** There's a strange in-universe example in the first chapter of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''; a school textbook Harry is reading feels the need to explain to its readers what "Muggle" means.
* Beaten to death by Creator/DavidWeber. Every single ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book has this at least once, maybe twice. It's particularly painful, because most of these recaps appear to be at the end of a meeting that ''just talked about the recapped stuff''. These meetings often take up a chapter, and their sole purpose is just to recap the situation, tell the reader what everyone's going to do, and [[PurpleProse use more adjectives than anyone ever would in a normal conversation]].
* CS Forester neatly justifies it in a couple of places in the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' books, where a junior officer begins an explanation to a senior officer with this in order to maintain a properly deferential tone while in fact telling the senior officer something he probably didn't know, but should have known.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's manual ''How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy'' includes an entire chapter about how to how to handle exposition in a SpeculativeFiction tale without resorting to this trope. Card notes that this trope was very common in the early days of SF, and he provides a humorous example of what it often sounded like:
-->"As you know, Dr. Smith, the rebolitic manciplator causes the electrons of any given group of atoms to reverse their charge and become anti-electrons."\\
"Yes, Dr. Whitley, and of course that will cause an immediate explosion unless the rebolitic manciplation is conducted inside an extremely powerful Boodley field." \\
"And the only facility in Nova Scotia that is capable of maintaining a Boodley field of sufficient power is--" \\
"That's right. Dr. Malifax's lab on his houseboat in the Bay of Fundy."
* In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's ''Literature/HuntersOfDune'', the old couple Daniel and Marty do this ''a lot'' in the last chapters (when it is revealed that they are really [[spoiler:Omnius and Erasmus]].)
* A top secret memo in ''Icons'' by Margaret Stohl explains "as we all know, the Lords activated the Icons and [killed one billion people]," just in case the ambassador to the aliens forgot that they conquered the planet.
* The problem is routinely -- and hilariously -- lampshaded by narrator Bertie Wooster in the ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' stories by Creator/PGWodehouse, since the plot arcs often span several books.
* Justified in the ''Literature/JohnRain'' series by Barry Eisler by having Rain be ProperlyParanoid, so he keeps explaining things to his co-workers (much to their annoyance) to ensure that they are all thinking on the same page or understand the need for his excessive security precautions.
* The T'ang Chinese characters in the ''Literature/JudgeDee'' mysteries spend a surprising amount of time explaining their own [[ImperialChina culture and customs]] to each other for the benefit of the Western readers.
* About half of Creator/FredricBrown's short story "Keep Out" is one character giving backstory to a group of other characters, including the narrator, who then tells the reader, "Of course we had known a lot of those things already."
* ''Literature/KnowledgeofAngels'': The Inquisitor reminds Severo the Inquisition's authority overreaches that of the local cardinal where heresy is concerned, something Severo retorts he already knows.
* This is lampshaded in ''Literature/KingHaraldsSaga'' by Creator/SnorriSturluson.
-->'''Svein:''' I will believe in the banner's magic power, only when you have fought three battles against your nephew King Magnus and won all three of them.\\
'''Harald:''' (''angrily'') I am well aware of my kinship with Magnus without needing you to remind me of it...
* Susanna Clark's ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' has an [[FootnoteFever unending supply of footnotes]] stuffed with as-you-know facts about the world of British magic, as well as strange anecdotes, discussions of magical theories and other "as you might already know but may well find interesting" divergences from the main story.
* In Creator/VictorHugo's ''Literature/LesMiserables'' it is very, very common to insert a large portion of RealLife historic data that the reader is expected to already know, but Hugo still would like to remind them.[[note]]And it does help those that skipped their history class... Or are just skimming through the book...[[/note]]
-->'''Narrator:''' The arrest of the pope took place, as we know, on the night of the 5th of July.
* Justified in the ''Literature/LordDarcy'' books, where Master Sean natters on about the underlying principles of whatever spell he uses to examine crime scenes and clues, even though Darcy's surely heard all this before. Darcy actually ''insists'' that Sean do this, as it helps him overcome his own innate {{Muggle|s}} mental blocks about how magic operates; plus, as Master Sean is also a professor, he performs best while in classroom-lecture mode. Darcy also claims to almost always learn some new little tidbit of information each time.
* The novel ''Mirage'' by Creator/JamesFollett is based on the real-life espionage by Israel of the blueprints of the Mirage fighter aircraft after France stopped supplying the aircraft and parts after the initial sale and Israel wanted to keep the ones they had in flying condition (and eventually built their own version, the Kfir). During the briefing given during the planning of the operation a politician asks why they can't simply reverse-engineer or copy parts from their existing stocks or by removing them from planes. While one engineer who obviously knows why has a "for god's sake" reaction a second, more people-savvy engineer cuts him off saying that from a layman's perspective it's a reasonable question and deserves an answer. He then explains about while they might be able to physically copy the shape of a particular part it's much harder to exactly duplicate the alloy used and the manufacturing processes, such as the correct hardening and tempering required to make the part able to correctly handle the stresses involved in combat flight conditions. He uses the analogy of his pocket lighter, saying that if they made their best efforts, they could eventually duplicate the lighter but its performance would be inferior to the production model and prone to malfunction and unexpected failures. Multiplying the few components of the lighter up to thousands of parts in a modern jet fighter makes the entire idea untenable. The politician then understands why detailed blueprints with all of the technical specifications of each part are required and gives the go-ahead for the espionage attempt.
* Early on, ''Literature/NephisCourageStoryOfABadMormon'' includes an InfoDump on Mormon theology in the form of an as-you-know debate between two characters, presumably for the benefit of non-Mormon readers.
* Subverted in the ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Orphans of Chaos]]'' trilogy: "Headmaster Boggin" starts off on one of these at the appropriate time to provide valuable backstory to the eavesdropping protagonists, but is immediately headed off by the audience, who point out that they already know what he's talking about.
* In ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', the first meeting between the Grail Brotherhood that the readers see is liberally peppered with As You Know, despite occurring close to the culmination of their EvilPlan. Justified by having Dedoblanco play TheWatson by having failed to ReadTheFreakingManual, much to the exasperation of Jongleur, the group's leader.
* Creator/DavidFosterWallace mentions this in a footnote in ''Literature/ThePaleKing'', calling it an irksome and graceless dramatic contrivance.
* [[UsefulNotes/HugoAward Hugo Gernsback's]] classic SF novel ''Ralph 124C 41+ '' frequently uses this phrase to explain how the future works.
* Lampshaded in a ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' book where an important tribal custom is explained to the ''son of the recently deceased chieftain'' [[note]]For the record, there's a sword with a wavy edge (the sea) and a straight one (the land). The chieftain throws the sword, and whichever side lands up determines the way they travel[[/note]]. He yells at the minion telling him this to get to the point [[note]]The minion is showing him how make the sword land the way he wants it to[[/note]].
* There are several scenes in ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'' where Navani asks people questions that she'd already asked earlier, perhaps changing the wording slightly. When challenged on this, she explains that she's doing it to make sure that she really ''does'' know the answers, that she isn't making bad assumptions or missing important details.
* An in-universe example at the beginning of ''Literature/TheRubyKnight'':
-->''[Sparhawk takes cover as a troop of soldiers marches by]''\\
'''Lieutenant:''' It's that place in Rose Street where the Pandions try to hide their ungodly subterfuge. They know we're watching, of course, but our presence restricts their movements and leaves his Grace, the primate, free from their interference.\\
'''Corporal:''' We know the reasons, Lieutenant. We've been doing this for over a year now.
* Within the first chapter of the original ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' book a character tells shares "As you know, [Entire history of the world]". For in-universe purposes, it's used as a CallForward, as the narrator later tells the "real" history of the universe, adding in things that were omitted from the widely-known history.
* Averted in ''Literature/SheepsClothing''. While the ''reader'' probably knows a thing or two about vampires, Doc--and most frontier folks west of the Mississippi--isn't familiar with them at all.
* Sort of, in ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye''. Luke Skywalker, pretending to be a local miner, asks a real local a question about the locale. The response starts with an as you know -- the real local thinks Luke knows the first part of what he's imparting, though just like the readers, he does not.
* Played with in ''Literature/StarCarrier: Earth Strike'' when Rear Admiral Koenig explains to his [[ThePoliticalOfficer Senate liaison]] John Quintanilla why the way [[AlcubierreDrive their engines]] work means they can't reinforce the twelve [[SpaceFighter SG-92 Starhawks]] they sent on a near-''c'' AlphaStrike at the start of the book. Quintanilla's a civilian and probably ''doesn't'' understand this stuff.
* In ''Literature/StarDarlings'', one of the first things learned in the books and web series is the basics of wish-granting, which the characters know already.
* Aunt Jocelyn in ''Literature/StrengthAndJustice: Side: Justice'' says this phrase word for word while telling Teremy the reason why anyone can possess a superpower. It's very clearly for the benefit of the reader, since Teremy obviously knows it already.
* ''Literature/TalionRevenant'': Done many times, though it's mostly while introducing things they ''don't'' previously know (or in Nolan's case, internally reflecting) so the usage is more plausible than most.
* In ''Literature/TheTerminalMan'' by Creator/MichaelCrichton, a forensic pathologist tells psychiatrist Janet Ross "As you know, the male pubic hair" is different from the female pubic hair. Ross replies, "No, I didn't know that." The pathologist offers a reference.
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'':
** The pastor gives an overview of the history of his church because "I see some new faces in the congregation today."
** Ernie does not always pay attention to what Sam tells him. For example, when Ernie asks where Sam's coworker's party is, Sam responds, "Brandenburg Township, as I said."
* ''{{Literature/Timeline}}'': This is used frequently, with the exact words, all throughout the book.
* The final novel in the ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'' series by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey opens with a scene in which not only do the characters recap the previous novels to each other, but in order to make it clear to the reader who he's talking about, Thian Raven-Lyon refers to his grandparents as "Jeff Raven and Angharad Gwyn, a.k.a. the Rowan".
* In early 20th century dystopian sci-fi, Yevgeny Zamyatin's ''Literature/{{We}}'' averts this: the novel, written as a journal, is addressed to an alien readership; therefore, it's natural that the narrator explains some of the most basic facts of his everyday world.
* Subverted by Creator/RobertJordan: he seems to beat this trope to death with the copious amounts of exposition in his ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' series to recap events already firmly established in previous novels in the series, many of which was delivered through character dialogue; somewhat justified by the Door Stopper size of the series and difficulty in keeping track of the myriad of dangling plot threads one might think. But the reiterations most often are either new information for one or more of the people present, discussions about different opinions, or depictions of events that were influenced by the ones shown in earlier books.
* From the book ''Literature/{{Wonderstruck}}'', we have this clunky bit of exposition (granted, considering that part of the story was told entirely in pictures, it was hard to do it any other way):
-->'''Girl:''' (''writes'') Thank you!\\
'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!
[[/folder]]
!! By Author
* SF writer Creator/PoulAnderson called this an "idiot lecture", in the sense that either the lecturer must be an idiot, or the lecturer must think the lecturee is an idiot. Nevertheless Anderson used the device often at the beginning of short stories, usually to establish historical details when an operative was briefed by a superior. Lampshaded at least once via the lecturee thinking to himself "He must think I'm an idiot!" and similar. In more than one Anderson story, such a speech is delivered ''to an enemy'' and reveals something that really ought not to be revealed to an enemy ("and that's why we 'elves' can't stand iron"), followed by "added hastily" in a blatant (yet always successful) attempt to distract from said revelation.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/FoundationSeries''' "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces": Trader Mallow and his friend, the retired Trader Jaim Twer, discuss an upcoming Seldon crisis. As Seldon and [[ThePlan his Plan]] is a required part of a lay education on Terminus, the fact that Mallow had to explain it to his "friend" helped him deduce that Twer had been trained as a priest, not a layman, and is working for Jorane Sutt.
** Literature/RobotSeries:
%%*** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': Characters spend a lot of time explaining the Three Laws of Robotics to each other.
*** ''Literature/IRobot'': The viewpoint narrator of the FramingDevice often reviews information or prompts Dr Calvin to share colloquial knowledge. This helps the audience know background information, and is justified by the viewpoint character [[MostWritersAreWriters being a reporter who plans on writing the interview for public consumption]].
*** "{{Literature/Risk}}": The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
*** "{{Literature/Runaround}}": When trying to figure out what went wrong with their robot, Donovan and Powell review the situation they're in, which Dr Asimov uses as an opportunity for {{Exposition}} about [[ThreeLawsCompliant the three Rules of Robotics]].
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren'' opens with a meeting of Howard Foundation members where one character goes on for several pages, detailing the history of the foundation, its goals, and his plans for the future. While very interesting (to the reader), the entire monologue is framed as an As You Know. As the characters are all extremely long-lived and therefore very patient, they don't mind too much. He is however called on it by Lazarus Long, who has better things to do - [[LovableSexManiac mostly involving sex]].
** Inverted in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. It's used toward the reader as an excuse to skip exposition. Specifically, Rico's narration skips over a lot about the powered armor by telling the reader "But if you really are interested in the prints and stereos and schematics of a suit's physiology, you can find most of it, the unclassified part, in any fairly large public library." On the other hand in the ActionPrologue their sergeant goes over the plan of attack even though it's been hypnotically implanted in the troopers, as "some of you don't have minds to hypnotise."
* One of Creator/HPLovecraft's literary quirks was his extreme aversion to writing dialogue. Thus, when he absolutely had to write about two characters talking, he instead only wrote one person's lines, which inevitably contained all the content of the other party's responses, as well.
* Novelist Creator/HarryTurtledove has a tendency to fall into this trap in his multi-volume alternative history epics (such as the ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' and ''Literature/{{Timeline 191}}'' series); he will often recap complicated alternative histories and the plots of two, three or more previous novels in the series by having characters engage in conversations or think to themselves about things that they would already know.
!! By Work
* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', Orwell uses the very clever trick of getting the basic facts explained to us by the [[FictionalDocument secret book]] of [[LaResistance the Brotherhood]], which works as a subversive primer to the indoctrinated population. We learn later on that [[spoiler: the Brotherhood and the Inner Party are the same, so everything in the book could be wrong too..]].
* MrExposition tells the protagonist her own life story in ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground''.
* A ''lot'' of {{exposition}} in the ''Literature/AlexisCarew'' series is done by having people explain things to the protagonist. {{Justified|Trope}} since Alexis grew up on a backwater colony world and until joining the New London Royal Navy had cared more about crop prices and farming and logging techniques than about space travel and international politics and history.
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' the first chapter is usually dedicated to the RotatingProtagonist explaining the series' concept (the Earth is being invaded by {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s, they [[{{Animorphism}} turn into animals]] to fight them, etc.) Clearly this is being done for people who picked up the books out of order, but by the last few entries the narrators start throwing in "but you know this already."
* ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'': S.D. Towers fills the reader in on the entire {{Backstory}} of the Empire of Durdane by devoting most of a chapter to covering a History class.
* In ''Literature/TheBadGuys'' book "The Furball Strikes Back", Mr. Wolf explains the plan to stop the bulldozers threatening to destroy the forest, much to the annoyance of Mr. Snake, who knows the plan already, as Mr. Wolf has been repeating it over and over. Turns out, he's been repeating it because Mr. Shark keeps forgetting key details about it.
* ''[[Literature/TheFirstLaw Before They Are Hanged]]'' includes an early briefing for military officers ending, "That fortress, as we all know, is already in the hands of the enemy." This is an aversion, as the officers in question are useless nobles who have only the faintest grasp of the war. The briefing officer is a commoner who rose through the ranks and has enough sense not to say, "as you ought to know."
* OlderThanFeudalism: Occurs in ''Literature/TheBible'', when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest..." According to commentaries, the extensive exposition was given either a) to soften the blow of the request to sacrifice him, or b) to increase Abraham's reward, as he was rewarded for every word of the request.
** Alternative c): to hit hard the sacrifice God is demanding, emphasizing strongly that "You really don't want to do this." i.e. the opposite of a).
** Alternative d) (for Christians): foreshadowing [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the sacrifice of a certain someone else's only son, who he loves]] - immediately after providing a ram to be sacrificed in Isaac's place, God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed through his offspring.
** Or, just as a reminder. The stories in Genesis-2 Kings were originally a bunch a disconnected episodes that were compiled and edited multiple times over several centuries. Readers/hearers may not have known every detail of the final story, only bits from earlier versions. Alternatively, it may have been intentional irony on the part of the writer/editor, who would have known that Abraham DID have another son at this point, but Ishmael apparently didn't count.
** Also "for Rachel thy younger daughter." This last one has become ''an idiom'' in spoken Hebrew.
** Also Deuteronomy 11:30, which the NIV translates using the trope name:
--> As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of the Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal.
* Subverted by Deule, the narrator of ''Literature/CantataInCoralAndIvory'', who prefaces some of his exposition this way. He's actually presenting new information to the person he's talking to, but it would be improper for Deule to admit that his new lord doesn't know something he should.
* In ''Literature/ChildhoodsEnd'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke, the character Jan Rodricks explains the theory of relativity to his sister in a very long letter, which she should already know, seeing as how this was a highly scientifically advanced society, almost to the point of dystopia.
* Dicken's ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' and any [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol parody/homages]] to it. Because of the time travel aspect of voyeuring into people's lives it somewhat requires them to explain the situation to each other in order to further the plot.
* Broud, the newly selected leader of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', calls a meeting of the Clan, and begins by stating, "As you know, I am now your leader." This causes the clan members to exchange puzzled looks, since they obviously did know.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'':
** The fundamentals of furycrafting are presented by Tavi to Max as if it's a necessary refresher because he's such a bad student.
** The author has noted that there were some significant bits of backstory and world-building that he ended up leaving out or delaying in order to avoid slipping into this trope. He took four books to explain that "-ar" at the end of someone's surname name meant they were illegitimate, and never got round to explaining that the line of Gaius had restarted at "Primus" dozens of times in the past (with Gaius Sextus being the fourth First Lord with that name) because all of the viewpoint characters would have already known all about it from basic history classes.
* Used to lead off the briefing [[spoiler:on the VX nerve gas]] at the beginning of ''[[Literature/PaladinOfShadows A Deeper Blue]]''. Given a LampshadeHanging a few paragraphs later with the acknowledgement of the speaker that he's covering old ground for those at the briefing.
* In ''Literature/DestinedToLead'' book 2, ''Healing'', Resurge, the ProudWarriorRace guy uses this trope to explain why he knows who on Mysterium 'Gakkar' is, and by extension the giant stone golem they are conversing with.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Played with in ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'', where Ponder, speaking to the senior wizards, precedes his [[MrExposition explanation]] of [[MagicAIsMagicA fundamental Discworld physics]] with "As I'm sure you know", but only out of politeness. A footnote explains that what he actually means is "I'm not sure you know this..."
*** Justified again in the third ''Science'' book, when Ponder's reports on the situation go ignored and he has to explain himself all over again on the spot, using this trope to let his colleagues save face.
** ''{{Literature/Wintersmith}}'': Tiffany ends up having to do this to KnowNothingKnowItAll Anagramma, because just asking her to show you how to do something just results in a lot of stalling until she says she has a migraine.
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' is as appallingly loaded with As You Know as any book ever written.
** The chapter where the villain first appears consists entirely of As You Know dialogue, complete with having the villain ''introduce himself'' to his chief henchman: "Is it not a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, do?" Justified by Baron Harkonnen being so fond of describing plans that at one point he ''himself'' admits to it being a flaw.
** "The Spice must flow!" (Usually accompanied by a summary of its multipurpose nature.)
* Played with during the last part of George Stewart's ''Literature/EarthAbides''. The protagonist, Ish, is now an old man, spending most of his time in a mental fog, cared for by others. When this fog lifts, Ish discusses the current state of the Tribe with Jack, his great-grandson and caretaker. Almost every answer Jack offers is punctuated with, "...as you yourself well know, Ish," even though Ish is, at this point, as clueless as the reader.
* Justified in ''Literature/FitzpatricksWar'' as the general history of how the world turned into a post-apocalyptic steampunk Neo-British Empire-dominated dystopia [[LectureAsExposition is recited in a verbal exam]] by the novel's protagonist, Robert Mayfair Bruce. Coincidentally, Bruce was shocked to have gotten such an easy topic.
* An early scene in ''Literature/TheFold'' shows the teleportation project team in front of the oversight board that decides whether they'll get an extension on their research grant. The occasion is used to walk the audience through the theory and past few years of work for the project, despite the fact that the oversight board should know all this from previous meetings. Further, the board is ''surprised'' when the project lead points out that their years-old contract keeps all data and documentation subject to the team's discretion.
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', the title character receives a letter from his adopted sister which tells him his own life story in nauseating detail. The phrase "You will recall..." pops up a few times. Likewise there's one that begins along the lines of, "I'm sure you remember our young maid, Justine, but in case you don't..."
* In ''Literature/TheFurtherAdventuresOfBatman'', the short story "Literature/SubwayJack" has Bruce explaining rather obvious things to Alfred, such as mud getting tracked in by the murderer, who then treats him to [[ServileSnarker a bit of snark]].
* James Hogan rather neatly avoids this trope while still managing to do huge Infodumps in his ''Ganymede'' series, by managing things so that there's always someone present who justifiably needs the infodump, whether it's a biologist getting briefed on extremely advanced physics, a physicist being brought up to speed on political matters, or a businessman being briefed on the fine points of biochemistry. It helps that Hogan's got a huge multi-disciplinary team to work with, and better, the main character is a man whose biggest talent is his ability to cross-correlate information from many areas without being a specialist in any of them himself. This means he often specifically ''requests'' an infodump from a specialist.
* Done in the first chapter of ''Literature/TheGreatPacificWar''. The Japanese cabinet meets to discuss the dangerous riots and the seeds of revolt that are gaining strength, and the Premier opens by saying "As you know, our country is experiencing dangerous riots, and the revolts are gaining in strength."
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** At the very beginning of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] have a discussion about things each one of them knows in detail. Of special mention are the specifics of the war they have just been fighting, the introduction of the villain's name, which has a vague justification, and telling Dumbledore he's noble, just to establish him as a [[BigGood good guy]] in the books. Also, they refer to each other by last names, while they are on first-name terms in later books and have known each other for decades. The scene with Dumbledore and [=McGonagall=] is mostly gratuitous, in that most relevant details in that scene are also covered later, being told to Harry directly; and it refers to a lot of things that aren't apparent until later books, [[ChekhovsGunman like Sirius Black.]]
** This also shows up in a peculiar form (you might call it an inversion) partway through ''Philosopher's Stone'', when Hermione is telling Ron and Harry about the Philosopher's Stone, which can be used to achieve immortality. [[ParrotExposition Ron repeats the word "immortal" in surprise]], only for Hermione to explain "It means you'll never die," just in case any of the kids in the audience don't know that word. Ron gets indignant and says "I ''know'' what it means," because there's really no reason for him not to.
** There's a strange in-universe example in the first chapter of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]''; a school textbook Harry is reading feels the need to explain to its readers what "Muggle" means.
* Beaten to death by Creator/DavidWeber. Every single ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book has this at least once, maybe twice. It's particularly painful, because most of these recaps appear to be at the end of a meeting that ''just talked about the recapped stuff''. These meetings often take up a chapter, and their sole purpose is just to recap the situation, tell the reader what everyone's going to do, and [[PurpleProse use more adjectives than anyone ever would in a normal conversation]].
* CS Forester neatly justifies it in a couple of places in the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' books, where a junior officer begins an explanation to a senior officer with this in order to maintain a properly deferential tone while in fact telling the senior officer something he probably didn't know, but should have known.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's manual ''How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy'' includes an entire chapter about how to how to handle exposition in a SpeculativeFiction tale without resorting to this trope. Card notes that this trope was very common in the early days of SF, and he provides a humorous example of what it often sounded like:
-->"As you know, Dr. Smith, the rebolitic manciplator causes the electrons of any given group of atoms to reverse their charge and become anti-electrons."\\
"Yes, Dr. Whitley, and of course that will cause an immediate explosion unless the rebolitic manciplation is conducted inside an extremely powerful Boodley field." \\
"And the only facility in Nova Scotia that is capable of maintaining a Boodley field of sufficient power is--" \\
"That's right. Dr. Malifax's lab on his houseboat in the Bay of Fundy."
* In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's ''Literature/HuntersOfDune'', the old couple Daniel and Marty do this ''a lot'' in the last chapters (when it is revealed that they are really [[spoiler:Omnius and Erasmus]].)
* A top secret memo in ''Icons'' by Margaret Stohl explains "as we all know, the Lords activated the Icons and [killed one billion people]," just in case the ambassador to the aliens forgot that they conquered the planet.
* The problem is routinely -- and hilariously -- lampshaded by narrator Bertie Wooster in the ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' stories by Creator/PGWodehouse, since the plot arcs often span several books.
* Justified in the ''Literature/JohnRain'' series by Barry Eisler by having Rain be ProperlyParanoid, so he keeps explaining things to his co-workers (much to their annoyance) to ensure that they are all thinking on the same page or understand the need for his excessive security precautions.
* The T'ang Chinese characters in the ''Literature/JudgeDee'' mysteries spend a surprising amount of time explaining their own [[ImperialChina culture and customs]] to each other for the benefit of the Western readers.
* About half of Creator/FredricBrown's short story "Keep Out" is one character giving backstory to a group of other characters, including the narrator, who then tells the reader, "Of course we had known a lot of those things already."
* ''Literature/KnowledgeofAngels'': The Inquisitor reminds Severo the Inquisition's authority overreaches that of the local cardinal where heresy is concerned, something Severo retorts he already knows.
* This is lampshaded in ''Literature/KingHaraldsSaga'' by Creator/SnorriSturluson.
-->'''Svein:''' I will believe in the banner's magic power, only when you have fought three battles against your nephew King Magnus and won all three of them.\\
'''Harald:''' (''angrily'') I am well aware of my kinship with Magnus without needing you to remind me of it...
* Susanna Clark's ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' has an [[FootnoteFever unending supply of footnotes]] stuffed with as-you-know facts about the world of British magic, as well as strange anecdotes, discussions of magical theories and other "as you might already know but may well find interesting" divergences from the main story.
* In Creator/VictorHugo's ''Literature/LesMiserables'' it is very, very common to insert a large portion of RealLife historic data that the reader is expected to already know, but Hugo still would like to remind them.[[note]]And it does help those that skipped their history class... Or are just skimming through the book...[[/note]]
-->'''Narrator:''' The arrest of the pope took place, as we know, on the night of the 5th of July.
* Justified in the ''Literature/LordDarcy'' books, where Master Sean natters on about the underlying principles of whatever spell he uses to examine crime scenes and clues, even though Darcy's surely heard all this before. Darcy actually ''insists'' that Sean do this, as it helps him overcome his own innate {{Muggle|s}} mental blocks about how magic operates; plus, as Master Sean is also a professor, he performs best while in classroom-lecture mode. Darcy also claims to almost always learn some new little tidbit of information each time.
* The novel ''Mirage'' by Creator/JamesFollett is based on the real-life espionage by Israel of the blueprints of the Mirage fighter aircraft after France stopped supplying the aircraft and parts after the initial sale and Israel wanted to keep the ones they had in flying condition (and eventually built their own version, the Kfir). During the briefing given during the planning of the operation a politician asks why they can't simply reverse-engineer or copy parts from their existing stocks or by removing them from planes. While one engineer who obviously knows why has a "for god's sake" reaction a second, more people-savvy engineer cuts him off saying that from a layman's perspective it's a reasonable question and deserves an answer. He then explains about while they might be able to physically copy the shape of a particular part it's much harder to exactly duplicate the alloy used and the manufacturing processes, such as the correct hardening and tempering required to make the part able to correctly handle the stresses involved in combat flight conditions. He uses the analogy of his pocket lighter, saying that if they made their best efforts, they could eventually duplicate the lighter but its performance would be inferior to the production model and prone to malfunction and unexpected failures. Multiplying the few components of the lighter up to thousands of parts in a modern jet fighter makes the entire idea untenable. The politician then understands why detailed blueprints with all of the technical specifications of each part are required and gives the go-ahead for the espionage attempt.
* Early on, ''Literature/NephisCourageStoryOfABadMormon'' includes an InfoDump on Mormon theology in the form of an as-you-know debate between two characters, presumably for the benefit of non-Mormon readers.
* Subverted in the ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfChaos Orphans of Chaos]]'' trilogy: "Headmaster Boggin" starts off on one of these at the appropriate time to provide valuable backstory to the eavesdropping protagonists, but is immediately headed off by the audience, who point out that they already know what he's talking about.
* In ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', the first meeting between the Grail Brotherhood that the readers see is liberally peppered with As You Know, despite occurring close to the culmination of their EvilPlan. Justified by having Dedoblanco play TheWatson by having failed to ReadTheFreakingManual, much to the exasperation of Jongleur, the group's leader.
* Creator/DavidFosterWallace mentions this in a footnote in ''Literature/ThePaleKing'', calling it an irksome and graceless dramatic contrivance.
* [[UsefulNotes/HugoAward Hugo Gernsback's]] classic SF novel ''Ralph 124C 41+ '' frequently uses this phrase to explain how the future works.
* Lampshaded in a ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' book where an important tribal custom is explained to the ''son of the recently deceased chieftain'' [[note]]For the record, there's a sword with a wavy edge (the sea) and a straight one (the land). The chieftain throws the sword, and whichever side lands up determines the way they travel[[/note]]. He yells at the minion telling him this to get to the point [[note]]The minion is showing him how make the sword land the way he wants it to[[/note]].
* There are several scenes in ''Literature/RhythmOfWar'' where Navani asks people questions that she'd already asked earlier, perhaps changing the wording slightly. When challenged on this, she explains that she's doing it to make sure that she really ''does'' know the answers, that she isn't making bad assumptions or missing important details.
* An in-universe example at the beginning of ''Literature/TheRubyKnight'':
-->''[Sparhawk takes cover as a troop of soldiers marches by]''\\
'''Lieutenant:''' It's that place in Rose Street where the Pandions try to hide their ungodly subterfuge. They know we're watching, of course, but our presence restricts their movements and leaves his Grace, the primate, free from their interference.\\
'''Corporal:''' We know the reasons, Lieutenant. We've been doing this for over a year now.
* Within the first chapter of the original ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' book a character tells shares "As you know, [Entire history of the world]". For in-universe purposes, it's used as a CallForward, as the narrator later tells the "real" history of the universe, adding in things that were omitted from the widely-known history.
* Averted in ''Literature/SheepsClothing''. While the ''reader'' probably knows a thing or two about vampires, Doc--and most frontier folks west of the Mississippi--isn't familiar with them at all.
* Sort of, in ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye''. Luke Skywalker, pretending to be a local miner, asks a real local a question about the locale. The response starts with an as you know -- the real local thinks Luke knows the first part of what he's imparting, though just like the readers, he does not.
* Played with in ''Literature/StarCarrier: Earth Strike'' when Rear Admiral Koenig explains to his [[ThePoliticalOfficer Senate liaison]] John Quintanilla why the way [[AlcubierreDrive their engines]] work means they can't reinforce the twelve [[SpaceFighter SG-92 Starhawks]] they sent on a near-''c'' AlphaStrike at the start of the book. Quintanilla's a civilian and probably ''doesn't'' understand this stuff.
* In ''Literature/StarDarlings'', one of the first things learned in the books and web series is the basics of wish-granting, which the characters know already.
* Aunt Jocelyn in ''Literature/StrengthAndJustice: Side: Justice'' says this phrase word for word while telling Teremy the reason why anyone can possess a superpower. It's very clearly for the benefit of the reader, since Teremy obviously knows it already.
* ''Literature/TalionRevenant'': Done many times, though it's mostly while introducing things they ''don't'' previously know (or in Nolan's case, internally reflecting) so the usage is more plausible than most.
* In ''Literature/TheTerminalMan'' by Creator/MichaelCrichton, a forensic pathologist tells psychiatrist Janet Ross "As you know, the male pubic hair" is different from the female pubic hair. Ross replies, "No, I didn't know that." The pathologist offers a reference.
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'':
** The pastor gives an overview of the history of his church because "I see some new faces in the congregation today."
** Ernie does not always pay attention to what Sam tells him. For example, when Ernie asks where Sam's coworker's party is, Sam responds, "Brandenburg Township, as I said."
* ''{{Literature/Timeline}}'': This is used frequently, with the exact words, all throughout the book.
* The final novel in the ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'' series by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey opens with a scene in which not only do the characters recap the previous novels to each other, but in order to make it clear to the reader who he's talking about, Thian Raven-Lyon refers to his grandparents as "Jeff Raven and Angharad Gwyn, a.k.a. the Rowan".
* In early 20th century dystopian sci-fi, Yevgeny Zamyatin's ''Literature/{{We}}'' averts this: the novel, written as a journal, is addressed to an alien readership; therefore, it's natural that the narrator explains some of the most basic facts of his everyday world.
* Subverted by Creator/RobertJordan: he seems to beat this trope to death with the copious amounts of exposition in his ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' series to recap events already firmly established in previous novels in the series, many of which was delivered through character dialogue; somewhat justified by the Door Stopper size of the series and difficulty in keeping track of the myriad of dangling plot threads one might think. But the reiterations most often are either new information for one or more of the people present, discussions about different opinions, or depictions of events that were influenced by the ones shown in earlier books.
* From the book ''Literature/{{Wonderstruck}}'', we have this clunky bit of exposition (granted, considering that part of the story was told entirely in pictures, it was hard to do it any other way):
-->'''Girl:''' (''writes'') Thank you!\\
'''Man:''' (''writes'') You're welcome, sister!
[[/folder]]
