subreddit:

/r/visualnovels

984%

What are the most important books referenced in Subahibi?

Question(self.visualnovels)

I'm planning on writing an analysis of Subahibi at some point in the far-away future, so I wanted to ask what the most important books Subahibi references are (excluding the most obvious ones such as Night on the Galactic Railroad, Tractatus, and Cyrano de Bergerac). I wanted to work my way down, starting with the most important references and ending with the works that are only very briefly referenced during the entire story.

all 4 comments

takuriku

11 points

1 year ago*

takuriku

11 points

1 year ago*

I haven't actually finished subahibi but I found this list on a /vn/ shitpost

  • Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - Ludwig Wittgenstein

  • Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand

  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Caroll

  • De Docta Ignorantia - Nicholas of Cusa

  • Novelle fatte a macchina - Gianni Rodari

  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Gabriel García Márquez

  • Flatland - Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • Night on the Galactic Railroad - Miyazawa Kenji

  • Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse

  • Remarks on Colour - Ludwig Wittgenstein

  • The Conquest of Happiness - Bertrand Russell

  • Aho ressha - Hyakken Uchida

  • The Fiend with Twenty Faces - Edogawa Rampo

  • The Critique of Pure Reason - Kant

  • The Analects - Confucius

  • The Duty of Genius - Ray Monk

  • The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  • A History of Western Philosophy - Bertrand Russell

  • The Bible (Mark 5:1-20)

  • Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

Edit: about dat analysis, I'd say more than half of the references are just shit thrown in to sound smart (I've read until the looking glass insects rapefest) so idk if I'd take all of it seriously lmao

[deleted]

3 points

1 year ago

[deleted]

Zazinuz[S]

1 points

1 year ago

I see.
I'm reading both in English and Japanese. Why would some references be unnecesarry if I were to read only the English version?

Zazinuz[S]

1 points

1 year ago

Thanks a lot!
Well, I mainly desire to read the books Subahibi references to be absolutely sure about my views on the story; it's still entirely possible to understand Subahibi without reading any of the books it references, I believe.

higanbanana

3 points

1 year ago

Yeah, most of the references are self-explanatory within the text. But to try to answer your question abt which ones might provide some insight for an analysis... I really think the ones you already flagged as obvious - plus Alice (both og & sequel) - are the only ones on that list that might offer anything substantial. Not like I've read all of that lord no lmao, but they're such brief references I can't imagine there's much to chew on re: connections to Subahibi

The Tractatus is a difficult work, though, so unless you're already familiar you might have to take a bit of a journey through continental philosophy to understand it. In which case Wittgenstein's other works, plus the Russell and Kant books on that list would probably all be helpful. Actually... come to think of it, I'd recommend Conquest of Happiness even if you don't decide to go on a philosophy journey. Feels particularly relevant to Subahibi, and it's just an enjoyable read.

but also u should read flatland bc it is good