Week 4: 四畳半神話大系 (The Tatami Galaxy) 🎓 Advanced Book Club

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四畳半神話大系 :mortar_board: Home Thread

Week 4

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Start Date: April 29
Previous Part: Week 3
Next Part: Week 5

Reading:

Week Start Date End Phrase End Page End Percentage Page Count
Week 4 April 29 その老婆に出会った。 128 31% 32

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
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I just finished this week’s portion.

If I’m counting correctly, there are 12 sections in this week’s reading. The first section is verbatim the first section of the previous chapter. Other parts are also repeated word for word, like Ozu’s and the building’s descriptions, although I haven’t compared directly to make sure there are absolutely no differences.

So it seems we have reset. The narrator is still dissatisfied with his student life, but he now never joined the movie club, opting to become a disciple of Higuchi instead. With the clubs that drew his interest being four altogether, I suspect we’ll get to explore all options.
Higuchi is not a God in this version, but he’s still a fraud a master who’s looking for servants reached spiritual enlightenment. Akashi seems to always join the club the narrator is in, and Ozu apparently joins all the clubs and is mixed up in everything. Again there’s a foolhardy and ridiculous plan against Jougasaki, although the feud is now Higuchi’s and the narrator is mostly against it (his respect towards Jougasaki’s noble feelings for “Kaori” was hilarious). The fabled scrubbing brush and the second-hand book store again make an appearance, as does Jules Verne’s “20000 leagues under the sea”. And Hanuki (interesting name) again makes an appearance just before the narrator happens upon the fortune-teller.

Interested to see where all this leads, and whether the outcome is at all different from before.

2 Likes

The most interesting bit was the déjà vu moment! I wasn’t sure whether the reset was part of the story our outside of it, but it sounds like it might be part of it which is exciting.

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I thought I was going crazy for half of this chapter! :joy: This is not a book that allows for longer breaks between chapters. Lesson learned. XD

4 Likes