The Victorian novel and Wessex novels by Th. Hardy: poetics of finale

The article considers the peculiarities of Wessex Novels written by Thomas Hardy. In comparison with the narrative canon of the Victorian novel that supposes that the conflict is settled and the artistic picture of the world is finished off, in Hardy’s novels there is a distinct tendency to form the open finale. The author makes his characters face the changing world and vague life prospects ("Far from the Madding Crowd", "The Woodlanders"). He relinquishes the trivial role of the all-knowing story-teller, gives his readers several versions of the finale ("The Return of the Native") and lets the unsolved problems spread over the bounds of the literary work ("Tess of the D’Urbervilles", "Jude the Obscure"). Classical narration cannons in Wessex novels by Hardy are replaced by the open finale anticipating writers’ strategies of the XX century.