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宮沢賢治『銀河鉄道の夜』 #3
ジョバンニはまっ赤になってうなずきました。けれどもいつかジョバンニの眼のなかには涙がいっぱいになりました。そうだ僕は知っていたのだ、もちろんカムパネルラも知っている、それはいつかカムパネルラのお父さんの博士のうちでカムパネルラといっしょに読んだ雑誌のなかにあったのだ。それどこでなくカムパネルラは、その雑誌を読むと、すぐお父さんの書斎から巨きな本をもってきて、ぎんがというところをひろげ、まっ黒な頁いっぱいに白に点々のある美しい写真を二人でいつまでも見たのでした。それをカムパネルラが忘れるはずもなかったのに、すぐに返事をしなかったのは、このごろぼくが、朝にも午後にも仕事がつらく、学校に出てももうみんなともはきはき遊ばず、カムパネルラともあんまり物を言わないようになったので、カムパネルラがそれを知ってきのどくがってわざと返事をしなかったのだ、そう考えるとたまらないほど、じぶんもカムパネルラもあわれなような気がするのでした。
Vocabulary:
博士 はかせ scholar (can also be read as はくし)
書斎 しょさい study (room)
巨きな おおきな large, big
頁 ページ page
物を言う ものをいう to speak, to talk
きのどくがる to feel pity (for someone)
たまらないほど tremendously, to the extent that it is unbearable
Sentence breakdown:
As we’ve seen in previous installments, Miyazawa Kenji’s sentences and word usage are not very complex. However, the sheer length of some of the sentences sometimes makes it difficult to make out who does what.
In the case of today’s episode, the sentence most difficult to grasp is the long sentence at the end, the one that starts with それをカムパネルラが忘れるはずもなかったのに and ends with あわれなような気がするのでした.
So let’s break it down. The basic structure of the sentence is:
…すぐに返事をしなかったのは…物を言わないようになったので…返事をしなかったのだ.
“…the reason why he did’t answer straightaway…is because I stopped speaking [with Campanella]…that’s why he did not answer straightaway.”
The confusion here is caused not only by the repetition of ‘not answering straightaway’ but also by the many commas, or 読点 (とうてん). They give the impression that the sentence never ends. But when we look closely, we can conclude that the last part of the sentence (そう考えるとたまらないほど、じぶんもカムパネルラもあわれなような気がするのでした) functions as a separate sentence. This means that, for our purposes, we can see 返事をしなかったのだ as the end of our long sentence.
This allows us to fill in the blanks in our initial basic structure.
Note that ぼく is the grammatical subject here, so we should first determine the verbs that indicates ぼく’s actions:
(仕事がつらく) strictly speaking not a verb indicating ぼく’s actions, but still a comment on his situation.
遊ばず
物を言わないようになった
This produces the sentence:
このごろぼくが、朝にも午後にも仕事がつらく、学校に出てももうみんなともはきはき遊ばず、カムパネルラともあんまり物を言わないようになったので
because, lately, I’ve been having a hard time with work through the mornings and afternoons, and I haven’t been playing with everyone at school the way I used to, and I didn’t talk with Campanella as frequently as I did
In the section that follows, the それ in それを知って refers to the entire previous segment explaining ぼく’s situation. Note how the grammatical subject shifts from ぼく to カムパネルラ.
This produces the sentence:
カムパネルラがそれを知ってきのどくがってわざと返事をしなかったのだ
Campanella did’t answer straightaway on purpose, because he was aware of my situation and took pity on me
This only leaves the first part of the sentence for analysis, which is by far the least difficult to dissect. Simply add the first segment to the beginning of your basic structure.
This produces the sentence:
それをカムパネルラが忘れるはずもなかったのに、すぐに返事をしなかったのは
The reason Campanella didn’t answer straightaway, even though there is no way he would forget about that [time we looked at the Milky Way in the book from his father’s study]
By cutting up long sentences into smaller segments it becomes easier to see who does what. Just identify a basic structure and build from there. In the end, you can restructure the sentence a bit so it sounds better in English (or whatever language you are translation into).
Translation:
Giovanni turned bright red and nodded. But at some point, Giovanni’s eyes were filled with tears. That’s right, I did know it, and of course Campanella knows it too, we saw it in a magazine that we read together at the house of Campanella’s father, a scholar. And not just that, as soon as Campanella read the magazine, he went into his father’s study and brought out a large book, which he opened to a page that said ‘Milky Way’, and together we stared endlessly at the beautiful picture that colored the entire page ink black with tiny white dots all over. There is no way that Campanella could have forgotten about this, so why didn’t he answer the question straightaway? Perhaps it was because Campanella knew that, lately, I’ve been overwhelmed with work in the mornings and afternoons, and I haven’t been playing with everybody at school as enthusiastically as I used to, and I haven’t really been speaking with Campanella anymore either, and so it was on purpose, out of pity for me, that he didn’t reply straightaway. When I realized this, it felt as if both I and Campanella were unbearably pathetic.
Link for the text I used:
『銀河鉄道の夜』#3