An examination of the poetic metaphors and similes in three travel books by Paul Theroux: 'The Great Railway Bazaar', 'The Kingdom by the Sea', and 'The Happy Isles of Oceania'

This study uses the terms poetic metaphor and poetic simile to denote a novel and imaginative metaphor or simile that is used to entertain or delight. The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), The Kingdom by the Sea (1984), and The Happy Isles of Oceania (1992)—three travel books by Paul Theroux—are filled with poetic metaphors and similes, many of them being very striking.; Essentially, this study attempts to answer three questions about the poetic metaphors and similes in these three travel books: How and why does Theroux use them? What makes the striking ones so forceful? Why are some of them not as striking as they might be? The poetic metaphors and similes are prominent stylistic elements in the three travel books, and the answers to these questions provide a fundamental understanding of these elements. Basically, each of the three chapters of this study will focus mainly on trying to answer one of these questions.; This study is a comprehensive introduction to Theroux's use of poetic metaphors and similes, since it examines over sixty of them individually. Furthermore, to answer the above questions, this study introduces others' research about the functions of metaphors and similes in literature, and about the nature of effective metaphors and similes. Consequently, this study also provides readers with an introduction to scholarship on these topics.