‘Like Somebody Else's War': Similes in David Jones's <i>In Parenthesis</i>

The simile is a prominent literary device in David Jones's 1937 First World War epic In Parenthesis, appearing at a rate of about 1.25 times per page throughout the text. This article focuses on two key functions of the simile in In Parenthesis: the simile as a nod to the genre of classical epics and the simile as a clarifying tool. First, I demonstrate how In Parenthesis draws on themes and structures from epic similes in works like T he Iliad and Paradise Lost, juxtaposing Jones's unheroic combatants against epic heroes. Second, I contend that a stylistic shift occurs in Part 7, the narrative becoming less opaque (if, at the same time, embracing the mythic). This shift is driven, I contend, by similes deployed with increased frequency and transparency and is supplemented by a subtle shift in narrative perspective.