A Little Cloud of Queer Suspicion

A number of the stories in Dubliners have what we might call “oblique” titles that, instead of pointing directly to an apparent principal character or an ostensible major theme, point away to seemingly secondary characters, subordinate themes, or minor—even incidental—narrative concerns.1 Consider, for example, the first and last stories. While “The Sisters” is primarily concerned with the young boy–protagonist’s processing of the death of a priest with whom he had a fairly intimate relationship, the title identifies the secondary figures of the priest’s two sisters, directing our attention to their sisterly part in upholding illusions concerning the dead priest/brother and to their eventual disillusionment. While the last story, “The Dead,” is primarily concerned both with the adult Gabriel Conroy’s attempts to uphold illusions of himself and with his eventual disillusionment, the title singles out what seems to be a more widespread theme of death. Although both stories have oblique titles, these titles might be said to activate similar but reverse lines of signification. It has been suggested that while “The Sisters” might have made a more “appropriate” title for “The Dead,” “The Dead” might have been a more appropriate title for “The Sisters.” While the first story’s title might point across the volume to the last story, the last title points across the volume to the first. Thus, Joyce’s use of titles functions like the rhetorical stitch of a double chiasmus, by which, as he suggests himself in Finnegans Wake, Dubliners is “doublends jined,” or “double ends [Dublin’s] joined.”2 In addition to the beginning and ending stories of Dubliners, a number of stories near the middle also have oblique titles, including “Counterparts” and “Clay,” both of which identify specialized objects in the text that are not actually named and elevate these objects into leading narrative conceits. The title “Counterparts” activates a highly specialized term to