Meaning of "愛の響き合い" and "繋ぎ合わせる" in a tricky phrase


I'm trying to understand the below phrase, but having difficult with the
"愛の響き合い" and "繋ぎ合わせる" portions: (See
[here](https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054880721135/episodes/1177354054880721477)
for more context if needed, it's the first paragraph)

> 皆、朝日を望みながら、必死で働いている. 生まれては消える、そのくり返しを、 **愛の響き合い** で **繋ぎ合わせ** ながら。

"愛の響き合い" seems to literally be "the resonance of love", but from what I gather
this is not a common expression, and I'm having trouble grasping what it
means. Could it be referring to relationships?

Also, the use of the verb "繋ぎ合わせる" is a little confusing here. My guess is it
is close to something like "eking out a living" (similar to the phrase 命をつなぐ).
If someone could confirm that, I'd appreciate it.

While I am talking about this phrase, a final question relates to the use of
くりかえし. It clearly seems to be referring to the cycle of birth and death (lit:
'being born and disappearing'). However, do you feel this implies the same
'individuals' are being (reborn), or that each 'individual' is only living one
life.

In case the context matters, the setting of this story is where 'letters' live
in a city that is in the the mind of a fiction author.

UPDATE: My eventual goal is to translate this, however I am not asking for
someone to do it for me. Nonetheless, I will give my best guess so far
(focusing on the second sentence above) as it may indicate whether I am in the
right direction or not.

_They all eked out a living as part of the endless cycle of birth and death,
with only love to help them through it._

UPDATE:

I have long back posted my translation for this work online (with the full
permission of the author). If you are interested in reading it to see how I
rendered this portion, you can check it out
[here](http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2017/09/06/japanese-novel-translation-
cube-city-%E7%AB%8B%E6%96%B9%E4%BD%93%E9%83%BD%E5%B8%82-by-ikkai-
inubousaki-%E7%8A%AC%E5%90%A0%E5%9F%BC%E4%B8%80%E4%BB%8B-chapter-1-part-1/).

I'm glad I left this open since it generated some interesting discussion, but
I think it's time I close it now. I'll mark the latest answer from Kana since
I think it is the most thorough and provides the most insight.

After reading some of these newer responses I might have changed my
translation, but I will leave it as-is, at least for now.

UPDATE2:

So to not make people go to my site I will just post my translation of the
first paragraph of the story, and I have italicized the sentence in question.

Everyone worked throughout the night. This was only natural, since in this
place–a city without a sun–there was nothing but night. In Idea City, the
morning held off until the very last day: the day the world ended. _They all
worked themselves to the bone in the hope of one day seeing the morning sun,
eking out a living as part of the endless cycle of birth and death, bound
together by love._ But just as this thought came to mind, the ground beneath
me lurched.




First, these sentences are all metaphors, the unique expression of the author.
Especially in novels, it’s one of the common structures to put a metaphor at
first to let readers figure out what it actually implies by reading through
the following chapters.

"愛の響き合い"  
愛=love, 響く= this word has several meanings; echo/resound/touching (it can
refer to echoes of physical sounds as well as something emotional that impacts
your mind), 合う=to each other.  
So, it literally indicates something like "Echoes of love are touching
everyone’s mind to each other."  
The author didn’t make it clear what kind of love it was, though, you could
guess that it refers to love between "letters". The reason for it is that the
subject of the first sentence is "皆(=letters)", and it refers to hard everyday
lives of "letters".

"そのくり返し"  
It literally can be interpreted as "くり返し(the cycle)" of "その(it)". So, you get
to figure out what the "その(it)" refers to.

"生まれては消える" works as an adjective which modifies "その繰り返し". You could guess
"そのくり返し" indicates something is born and dies repeatedly.

"(その) It" seems to be referring to something everyone builds up through day-
to-day hard work (it can be guessed from the former context).

→
皆、朝を望みながら必死で働いてる。(でも、必死に働いて作り上げたものは)生まれては消えてのくり返しだ。(それでも、)愛の響き合いでなんとかそれ(生まれては消えてをくり返す何か)を繋ぎ合せている。

"繋ぎ合わせる"  
It literally means "connect to each other".  
This part implies "connect something, which is born and dies repeatedly, to
each other".

→ 愛の響き合いでなんとかそれ(生まれては消えてをくり返す何か)を繋ぎ合せている。  
Readers have no idea what the "それ(Smth repeats the life cycle)" is at this
moment. The author didn’t make it clear intentionally so that readers can
enjoy figuring out through further readings.

Considering the following paragraphs, "生まれては消える何か" clearly refers to "ideas
built by words (言葉たち) which are created and destroyed by 'erasers' over and
over again."

Words that live in the idea city work hard desperately, but the ideas they
build are destroyed by "erasers". The ideas repeat this life cycle, but
"words" are trying to connect these ideas with love.  
"愛-Love" among "words" is illustrated by ゆらぎ子 and 絶対夫. However, it seems to be
referring to the general love of every word, not only these two’s relationship
(when considering "愛を繋ぎ合わせながら").

<http://inubousaki-ikkai.kir.jp/denshokai/rippoutaitoshi/>




First, these sentences are all metaphors, the unique expression of the author.
Especially in novels, it’s one of the common structures to put a metaphor at
first to let readers figure out what it actually implies by reading through
the following chapters.

"愛の響き合い"  
愛=love, 響く= this word has several meanings; echo/resound/touching (it can
refer to echoes of physical sounds as well as something emotional that impacts
your mind), 合う=to each other.  
So, it literally indicates something like "Echoes of love are touching
everyone’s mind to each other."  
The author didn’t make it clear what kind of love it was, though, you could
guess that it refers to love between "letters". The reason for it is that the
subject of the first sentence is "皆(=letters)", and it refers to hard everyday
lives of "letters".

"そのくり返し"  
It literally can be interpreted as "くり返し(the cycle)" of "その(it)". So, you get
to figure out what the "その(it)" refers to.

"生まれては消える" works as an adjective which modifies "その繰り返し". You could guess
"そのくり返し" indicates something is born and dies repeatedly.

"(その) It" seems to be referring to something everyone builds up through day-
to-day hard work (it can be guessed from the former context).

→
皆、朝を望みながら必死で働いてる。(でも、必死に働いて作り上げたものは)生まれては消えてのくり返しだ。(それでも、)愛の響き合いでなんとかそれ(生まれては消えてをくり返す何か)を繋ぎ合せている。

"繋ぎ合わせる"  
It literally means "connect to each other".  
This part implies "connect something, which is born and dies repeatedly, to
each other".

→ 愛の響き合いでなんとかそれ(生まれては消えてをくり返す何か)を繋ぎ合せている。  
Readers have no idea what the "それ(Smth repeats the life cycle)" is at this
moment. The author didn’t make it clear intentionally so that readers can
enjoy figuring out through further readings.

Considering the following paragraphs, "生まれては消える何か" clearly refers to "ideas
built by words (言葉たち) which are created and destroyed by 'erasers' over and
over again."

Words that live in the idea city work hard desperately, but the ideas they
build are destroyed by "erasers". The ideas repeat this life cycle, but
"words" are trying to connect these ideas with love.  
"愛-Love" among "words" is illustrated by ゆらぎ子 and 絶対夫. However, it seems to be
referring to the general love of every word, not only these two’s relationship
(when considering "愛を繋ぎ合わせながら").

<http://inubousaki-ikkai.kir.jp/denshokai/rippoutaitoshi/>

