After my divorce, I became a Tokyo literary giant

Chapter 19 Prepare for a rainy day
Tazaki Saku is a self-disciplined and focused person.

When he is doing something seriously, he will not be distracted even if his young and beautiful sister-in-law is tempting him.

From time to time, the noise of trams running on the railway outside the window could be heard.

Tazaki Saku was not affected at all and continued to search for the list of judges for this year's Group Portrait Newcomer Award on Kodansha's official website.

The fact that Yomiuri Okamoto appeared in Kodansha made Tazaki Saku aware of the possibility of some behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Of course, it was done behind the scenes.

Before signing with Aobasha, Yomiuri Okamoto had been submitting his works to various newcomer awards, but was always rejected.

The level is really not up to par, there is no possibility of winning the prize.

Later, he signed a contract with Aobasha and published his autobiography "Five Bodies Are Not Satisfied". With the help of Maki Saionji, he became a hit and became a popular writer in today's literary world.

In the past, he was unknown and his skills were not good enough, so of course the major newcomer awards would not like him.

But now he is a best-selling author who sells one million copies of new books a year. If Kodansha wants to sign him, they can cater to his preferences. Since he is greedy for fame, they can arrange for him to participate in this year's Group Portrait Literature Newcomer Award.

There is room for maneuver here.

The Group Portrait Award is a public literary award that solicits submissions from the general public.

After a round of screening, the submitted novels were finally selected and submitted to the jury.

These judges are composed of well-known figures such as veteran writers, publishing industry tycoons, university professors, literary critics, and Ministry of Education officials.

The final evaluation result is decided by the jury. Kodansha can only exert some influence but cannot directly intervene.

If you want to do something behind the scenes, you have to do it during the first round of screening.

All high-quality works are screened out, and 49 runner-up works and the one that wants to win the award are selected and sent into the final review stage.

The unsuccessful works will never be announced to the public.

Even if they are hacked, people without powerful background can't cause any trouble and can only bear the loss themselves.

Tazaki Saku worked in the publishing industry for a year and knew some inside information about the industry.

Ever since he saw Yomiuri Okamoto at the Kodansha headquarters, he was thinking that there really was some behind-the-scenes manipulation and how he could use this to maximize his benefits.

How to do it specifically depends on who is on the panel to formulate the action plan.

Browsing the list of judges, looking at those famous figures, analyzing the factions behind them and their personal styles...

After scrolling the mouse twice, Tazaki Saku's eyes suddenly lit up.

Professor Fujimiya, a well-known literary critic and professor of Japanese literary history at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo, appeared prominently in the column of the chairman of the jury.

"It's actually this old troll..."

Tazaki Saku felt that the god of luck was on his side.

There are many factions in the Japanese literary world, and the academic hierarchy is strict.

According to their inclinations, backgrounds, and ambitions, writers can be divided into left-wing or right-wing, reformists or conservatives, Kanto school or Kansai school, etc.

The most common division of camps is based on universities, such as the University of Tokyo faction, the Kyoto University faction, the Waseda faction, etc.

Professor Fujimiya is a relatively influential figure in the Tokyo University faction.

He has taught at the University of Tokyo for twenty years and has a deep-rooted network of relationships.

He has a lot of experience and strong academic ability.

He has profound attainments in the history of modern and contemporary Japanese literature and is also one of the leading literary critics in Japan.

He is a conservative and righteous person with rigorous academic thinking and no tolerance for any flaws.

I am ruthless when evaluating literary works. If something is bad, it is bad, and I will not change my opinion no matter how much money you offer me.

Most literary awards don't dare to invite him to be a judge, for fear that the winning works will be criticized too harshly by such people who don't understand the ways of the world. However, some larger literary awards will occasionally "take the risk" and invite him to be a judge in order to show off their "value".

Of course, these are not the most important.

In Tazaki Saku's eyes, the most important label of this old professor is "reformer".

The current mainstream of Japanese literature is classical aesthetics. Although its artistic and literary qualities are well preserved, it has gradually become alienated from the masses because of its highbrow nature.

After entering the new century, the Internet has brought more convenient entertainment and information.

Under the influence of these two factors, the sales of paper books are getting lower year by year.

How can writers survive if their books can’t be sold?
Therefore, in this environment where traditional literature is gradually declining, reformists seeking change came into being.

The most important theory put forward by the reformers is to "abandon cumbersome and obscure writing techniques and return to the original intention of spreading knowledge and culture."

The book "Hear the Wind Sing" is very consistent with the views of the reformists.

Professor Fujimiya is the most vocal among the reformists.

"If this old professor knew that the group portrait award he participated in was shady, and that the one that was shady was the type that the reformists liked the most, I don't know how many people would be scolded to death. Let me think about it, my senior graduated from the liberal arts department of the University of Tokyo, so she should have contact information..." Tazaki Saku took out his mobile phone and sent a message to his senior.

[Nutmeatcake: Do you have Professor Fujimiya's private email address? ]

I sent a message through Line and received a reply from my senior student two minutes later.

[Senior: Yes, what are you here for? ]

[Clay Cat Cake: Prepare for a rainy day.]

The senior student didn't ask any further questions and directly sent Professor Fujimiya's private email address.

[Niyoumaobing: Do you know any other reformist literary figures? Please send me their contact information.]

Yukiho Yonekura was born into an educational family. Her father was the dean of the law school at Waseda University. He had a wide network of contacts and gradually sent Tazaki Saku the contact information of several reformist writers.

Tazaki Saku sent an email to each person, in which he wrote down his views on the current mainstream of the literary world, some thoughts on reforming his writing, and the contents of sections 01 to 05 of "Hear the Wind Sing".

Haruki Murakami's literary style is greatly influenced by Europe and the United States.

Overall, it does not have the cumbersome habits of Japanese writers. It is concise, clear, straightforward and has a short rhythm.

Reformist guys will definitely like this style of writing.

After sending emails to everyone, Tazaki Saku took his hands off the keyboard, stretched, and relaxed to relieve his fatigue.

The sky outside the window has darkened.

I looked at the time. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening and Maki Saionji should be here soon.

"True knowledge." Tazaki Saku looked towards the sofa.

My sister-in-law was sitting on the sofa, holding half a watermelon in her arms. She was eating it with a spoon while staring at the TV screen.

There was a horizontal shooting game playing on the TV.

Machiko Saionji holds the joystick with his right toes and controls the jump and shooting keys with his left toes, flexibly manipulating the game character to pass levels.

Those white and tender toes are extremely flexible.

When she heard her brother-in-law calling her, she turned her head and saw that the little man on the screen was hit by a bullet and the words "game over" appeared.

"What's the matter?" asked Saionji Machi.

Tazaki Saku asked with a headache: "Who told you to dress like this..."

"What's wrong? Doesn't it fit perfectly?" Saionji Machi smiled proudly, jumped up and walked towards him.

She was only wearing a white shirt of her brother-in-law, and her two white and slender legs were fully exposed, giving her brother-in-law a feast for the eyes.

The buttons at the collar were not fastened properly and were hanging loosely.

After coming in front of her brother-in-law, she bent down deliberately, revealing her snow-capped peaks through her neckline.

Firm and sexy.

How can he be so big at such a young age?

In comparison, not only is Ryoko no match for her older sister, she's also no match for her younger sister. She's completely defeated...

Looking at the little sister who had transformed into a goblin, Tazaki Saku thought for a moment and said, "Someone will be coming soon. What she is going to do may cause you a bit of a shock. If you want to stay here, then hide in the kitchen and don't make any noise at all."

"Who is it?" Saionji Machika looked puzzled.

"No need to ask, you will know when the time comes. Now go hide in the kitchen." Tazaki Saku waved his hand.

Saionji Machika always listened to him, so he stopped asking questions and walked into the kitchen obediently in his slippers.

"It's time for you to know the dangers of the adult world..." Tazaki Saku muttered to himself.

He planned to do something ruthless to Maki Saionji next, and at the same time break his previous image of a good guy in front of his sister-in-law so that she would be demystified by him.

To be honest, although he has feelings for his younger sister, he doesn't want to be so cruel to her.

But she comes to seduce me every now and then, and we're alone, a man and a woman, and we're so passionate. It would be terrible if something really happened.

From brother-in-law to husband?

It feels weird.

Let me wake my little sister up first.

Just as I was thinking this, the doorbell rang outside the door, and Saionji Maki's impatient voice was heard.

"It's so hot outside, open the door quickly!"

The moment she heard this voice, her pupils trembled: It's over, I came to look for my brother-in-law and was discovered by my elder sister, I'm going to be scolded again...

(End of this chapter)