I broke down the sentence as あまり費用のかからぬ喫茶店回り (noun, act of going around to cafe's that didn't cost much money) but I think this may be incorrect because I'm not sure what the くらい in をやるくらい would do.
Is もなく a grammar point meaning "without" or is it more like も (particle) + ない as an adverb?
Sorry about all the questions. I would appreciate any kind of help. I also wanted to say thank you for all the work you do! I recently discovered the website and wow, I'm grateful for the vocabulary lists and quality translations. It's so nice to discover Japanese authors and I've already added a dozen or so books to my TBR.
Hi Luce, great questions! The くらい marks an extent or limitation. The nuance here is that the protagonist does not have a lot of money to do things, so going around cafes was the extent of his daily routine. And you're correct, も + ない as an adverb is the right interpretation, though here I wouldn't break it down that far, as あてどもなく functions as one big adverbial phrase.
Really glad to read the newsletter is useful to you and that you're able to expand your literary horizon in this way. I'm curious: which books did you pick?
Thank you so much for such an in-depth answer! It was very helpful. One last question: could you interpret/split もなく in the same way for 職業もなく, and if so, would you recommend against breaking it down like that?
I discovered Tanizaki Jun'ichirou from the newsletter and added quite a few of his books to my cart. Same with Edogawa Ranpo, actually. I think I'm the most excited for his ones. I'm also quite excited to start 日影丈吉『女の家』which was also mentioned here. It's quite weird because I don't read mystery novels at all in my normal reading, but something about the excerpts I've read caught my attention. Do you have any other mystery books you would recommend? 村上龍『2days 4girls』and 山田詠美「花火」seem really fun too. Haha, sorry for rambling.
Glad to help! In the case of 職業もなく you can and should break it up. The も simply indicates an addition to previous information and means 'also (not)' or perhaps even stronger 'not even' in this case. The なく is not used adverbially, but is a ren'yokei form of ない and is often used to list a sequence of events or facts: 仕事もなく、家もなく、金もない。Hope this makes sense.
Those are some excellent reading choices! If you like mystery or detective-like novels, Matsumoto Seicho is also a good contender. Let me know which was your favorite once you've read a few of them.
Can I ask what ~をやるくらい does in the sentence?
I broke down the sentence as あまり費用のかからぬ喫茶店回り (noun, act of going around to cafe's that didn't cost much money) but I think this may be incorrect because I'm not sure what the くらい in をやるくらい would do.
Is もなく a grammar point meaning "without" or is it more like も (particle) + ない as an adverb?
Sorry about all the questions. I would appreciate any kind of help. I also wanted to say thank you for all the work you do! I recently discovered the website and wow, I'm grateful for the vocabulary lists and quality translations. It's so nice to discover Japanese authors and I've already added a dozen or so books to my TBR.
Hi Luce, great questions! The くらい marks an extent or limitation. The nuance here is that the protagonist does not have a lot of money to do things, so going around cafes was the extent of his daily routine. And you're correct, も + ない as an adverb is the right interpretation, though here I wouldn't break it down that far, as あてどもなく functions as one big adverbial phrase.
Really glad to read the newsletter is useful to you and that you're able to expand your literary horizon in this way. I'm curious: which books did you pick?
Thank you so much for such an in-depth answer! It was very helpful. One last question: could you interpret/split もなく in the same way for 職業もなく, and if so, would you recommend against breaking it down like that?
I discovered Tanizaki Jun'ichirou from the newsletter and added quite a few of his books to my cart. Same with Edogawa Ranpo, actually. I think I'm the most excited for his ones. I'm also quite excited to start 日影丈吉『女の家』which was also mentioned here. It's quite weird because I don't read mystery novels at all in my normal reading, but something about the excerpts I've read caught my attention. Do you have any other mystery books you would recommend? 村上龍『2days 4girls』and 山田詠美「花火」seem really fun too. Haha, sorry for rambling.
Glad to help! In the case of 職業もなく you can and should break it up. The も simply indicates an addition to previous information and means 'also (not)' or perhaps even stronger 'not even' in this case. The なく is not used adverbially, but is a ren'yokei form of ない and is often used to list a sequence of events or facts: 仕事もなく、家もなく、金もない。Hope this makes sense.
Those are some excellent reading choices! If you like mystery or detective-like novels, Matsumoto Seicho is also a good contender. Let me know which was your favorite once you've read a few of them.
Alright, thank you!! I really appreciate the help.
Of course, anytime!