English Translation
I am invited to the end of the universe.
What effect does the と serve in this sentence?
@ericaw
Good question! Adding と is optional, and makes the whole sentence more poetic. In other words, 宇宙の果てへ私を誘う without と sounds dry or neutral. The speaker implies that the end of the universe is like hell or a graveyard if you omit と. Or the sentence without と is talking the fact scientifically with no personal feelings.
I interpret the English sentence as an analogy of something rhetorical. So, I definitely prefer inserting と into the Japanese translation.
This is not a direct comparison, but in English you sometimes use “on” and “upon”. The latter sounds more formal and fits well with a certain type of writing. Like them, ～へ and ～へと don’t change the essence of the whole sentence.
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This is such a wonderful explanation. Thank you so much MsFixer! 
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