David Jones in the Great War

David Jones's In Parenthesis is the greatest poem to emerge from the First World War, and indeed one of the greatest to emerge from any war. It could have been written only by someone who had not only experienced the war in all its horror, but who was himself soaked in both poetry and history and for whom that war deepened his understanding of both. Thomas Dilworth's biography takes us through the intellectual development of a patriotic young Welshman from the London lower- middle classes who joined up at the beginning of the war, served throughout on the Western Front, and learned, through living through the sodden misery of the winter of 1915-16 and the nightmares both of the Somme and then of Passchendaele, that war could be not only terrible but also, through the comradeship it brought with it, deeply fulfilling. This was this strange paradox that lies at the heart of In Parenthesis. Anyone who seeks to understand that poem should first read this book. But so should anyone who seeks to understand how David Jones's generation endured the Great War. Professor Sir Michael Howard, OM MC Accompanying the biography are photographs of Jones and his wartime sketches and drawings, many previously unpublished. The quickly drawn sketches of infantrymen, landscapes, ruined villages and still-lifes bring the story to life as works of documentary realism.

About the Author :
Thomas Dilworth is a Killam Fellow and a Professor in the English Department at the University of Windsor, Ontario. He has published widely on Modern literature and Romantic poetry and is the author of The Shape of Meaning in the Poetry of David Jones (1988), which won the British Council Prize in the Humanities, and Reading David Jones (2008). He edited Inner Necessities: the Letters of David Jones to Desmond Chute (1984), and David Jones s Wedding Poems (2002) and Jones s illustrated Rime of the Ancient Mariner (2005) both published by Enitharmon. He is publishing critical introductions and afterwords for bilingual (English/French) editions of The Anathemata, The Sleeping Lord and The Ancient Mariner and is currently writing Jones s biography."

Review :
Praise for Reading David Jones: Thomas Dilworth, one of the foremost contemporary Jones scholars, has taken infinite time and trouble to produce this exemplary guide to Jones's major works - the author's intense and thoughtful focus on this difficult poetry bears rich rewards. Those of us who, like Auden, have persisted with the task of "reading David Jones" owe Dilworth a substantial debt. THE TLS 'Dilworth is capable, patient, hugely knowledgeable and always informative.' THE REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES