Tuesday, May 1, 2018

particle くらい - Meaning of 〜くらいには and a tricky sentence


I am trying to figure out the meaning of a difficult sentence:




しかしそういう主観に支配されるくらいには、彼女との出会いが気の置けない友達と会うようなものではないことを僕は理解していた



My main issue here is with the expression "くらいには" and what it means in this context. A secondary issue is the word 主観, which seems to mean "subjectivity" in the dictionary, but I am guessing that based on context it is more something like "subjective experience".


My guess at the meaning of this sentence is that he is saying that he understands because he is so compelled/surprised by what is happening (suddenly meeting a previously famous pop star), he is sure that this experience (meeting with her) will not be anything like meeting a friend whom he can speak easily with.


Here is the context in case it matters (middle of 2nd paragraph).



Answer




しかしそういう主観に支配されるくらいには、彼女との出会いが気の置けない友達と会うようなものではないことを僕は理解していた



This is a bit roundabout sentence and even native speakers may have to read this twice to get the meaning. The main structure is そういう主観に支配されるくらいには理解していた, which roughly means "I was aware (of something) to the point where I was possessed by such an idea." In other words, "I realized (how special this encounter is) so much, so it was natural that I was possessed by such an idea."



主観 here is just "(subjective) idea/thoughts". In this case this 主観 refers to his unrealistic impression that he has met someone in another world ("beyond the dimension").


What he was aware of is a relatively long noun phrase, 彼女との出会いが気の置けない友達と会うようなものではないこと ("that the encounter with her is nothing like meeting with close friends").


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