[DeepL Translation - needs review] The 172nd Akutagawa Prize-winning novel.
At a family dinner, Hakubu Unification, a highly respected Goethe scholar, encounters a Goethe quote that he is unaware of.
In search of the words written on the tag of a tea bag, he reads through a vast number of original texts and retraces his memory of his years of research. ......
This journey of unification over a single word leads the reader to unexpected light while posing profound questions about what is crea...
This almost doesn't feel like a novel, it feels more like a collection of quotes and references for a special kind of literature enthusiast. The characters are generic and the plot feels like it merely exists to make it seem like you're reading a novel.
The writing is a bit quirky and unique but not in a good way in my opinion. The copious amount of references don't really add anything even if you know what they refer to.
It felt like the author mainly wrote this book because he wanted to writ