Based on the main structural and narrative elements and
drawing on the predominant views in the short story theory, this paper deals
with the analysis of endings in Joyce’s Dubliners, as well as with various
modes of their constitution regarding the effect they produce. Since the ending
is regarded as the crucial component of short fiction, and bearing in mind the
exuberant formal, thematic, symbolic and poetic potential that Joyce’s concept
of epiphany has in the structuring of ends, it can be said that Dubliners is a
collection that set the standard in the genre. This article aims at delineating the
differences between the closed and open ends, pointing to the complex
ontological implications of the latter ones, particularly in the light of the final
story’s ending, “The Dead”, which also marked a multiple crossing of borders
in terms of the form, genre and general poetics of James Joyce
THE SENSE OF THE UNENDING IN JOYCE’S DUBLINERS