Coruduoy
Hello, I'm currently reading Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase. Here is a part that I'm finding difficult to understand: There are symbolic dreams-- dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities -- realities that symbolize a dream. Symbols are what you might call the honorary town councillors of the worm universe. In the worm universe, there is nothing unusual about a dairy cow seeking a pair of pliers. A cow is bound to get her pliers sometime. It has nothing to do with me. Yet the fact that the cow chose me to obtain her pliers changes everything. This plunges me into a whole universe of alternative considerations. And in this universe of alternative considerations, the major problem is that everything becomes protracted and complex. I ask the cow, "Why do you want pliers?" And the cow answers, "I'm really hungry." So I ask, "Why do you need pliers if you're hungry?" The cow answers, "To attach them to branches of the peach tree." I ask, "Why a peach tree?" To which the cow replies, "Well, that's why I traded away my fan, isn't it?" And so on and so forth. The thing is never resolved. I begin to resent the cow, and the cow begins to resent me. That's a worm's eye view of its universe. Please help me explain!
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الإجابات · 1
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The syntax and grammar all make sense. But the content, logic, etc. don't make sense. The author has done this on purpose. Apparently they created the term 'worm universe' to describe this situation. In other words, it doesn't make sense to native speakers either, and probably isn't supposed to. It kind of reminds me of Lewis Carroll (try reading Jabberwocky).
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