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Lately, I'm reading Japanese light novels. For the following sentence, I can't get the meaning behind it.
解放感もなければ、次の職を探さなければという焦りもなかった。何を思えばよいのかが、よくわからなかった。
The character said that after leaving his workplace for the last time. He also has not any job offer where he can continue to work. He wasn't even trying to get a new job.
For me, it makes no sense when I try to translate it using the conditional form. Can someone help me out, please?
Both of the two なければ's are conditional in form, but in actual effect neither really expresses any condition.
In constructions of such a form as「AもBれば、CもD」, 「れば」 can work more like a coordinating conjunction, like the examples below.
「彼女は顔も良ければ、頭も良い。」 "She is good-looking, and smart too."
「数学ができる人もいれば、そうでない人もいる。」 "Some people are good at math, (and) other people are not."
「僕にはお金もなければ、才能もない。」 "I don't have money, nor talent."
The second one is the short form of 「なけらればならない」, which indicates the modality of obligation, like English modals must and have to.
So the translation of the sentence is something along the lines of:
Neither was there any sense of liberation, nor was there the impatient feeling of having to look for the next job.
「解放感{かいほうかん}もなければ、次{つぎ}の職{しょく}を探{さが}さなければという焦{あせ}りもなかった。何{なに}を思{おも}えばよいのかが、よくわからなかった。」
makes perfect sense.
Perhaps you have confused yourself by mistakenly thinking that the 「解放感もなければ」 corresponded with「次の職を探さなければ」. It actually corresponds with 「焦りもなかった」 in the double-も construct discussed in this Q&A.
Thus, this person had/felt neither A nor B.
A: 解放感
B: 『次の職を探さなければ』という焦り
"(Someone) had neither a feeling of release nor that of impatience regarding having to look for the next job. (Someone) could not understand well (even) what to think."
