Yoko Ogawa; translated by Stephen Snyder
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, unfolds in the first-person voice of a female aspiring novelist. She lives on an unnamed island where the population is kept under strict surveillance by the draconian Memory Police.
Objects randomly disappear from the island—birds, roses, photographs, calendars, books, etc. The inhabitants immediately incinerate all the disappeared objects they have in their possession in a ritual symbolizing collective memory erasure. The edict is enforced by the Memory Police who conduct unannounced searches in people’s homes to ferret out any trace of non-compliance. People accommodate and adapt, minimizing the disappearance as a minor inconvenience. Their memory of the disappeared object or of what life was like before its disappearance gradually fades with time. Individuals who cling to memories and hide disappeared objects are hunted down by the Memory Police and are disappeared without a trace.
The narrator is aware of the nearly daily disappearances and seems only slightly disturbed by the situation until her editor comes under suspicion. With the help of an old family friend, she hides her editor in a secret chamber under the floorboards in her house. The disappearances continue until, finally, human limbs disappear and all that remains of the narrator is her voice.
Interspersed throughout the novel are excerpts from the narrator’s story of a young typist who loses her voice and can only communicate by typing out the words. Her teacher eventually imprisons her, controlling every aspect of her life. She becomes totally reliant on him and is terrified of escaping her prison even when given the opportunity. This story within a story parallels the main events in that both the narrator and the character she creates are stripped of their individuality, simultaneously experiencing a loss of self and a loss of freedom.
The novel illustrates the premise that control of a population relies on mind manipulation far more than on physical incarceration. If people believe dissension results in torture and death, they will internalize their oppression by inhibiting their thinking, movements, and aspirations for fear of stepping out of line.
Told in simple, subdued, unemotional language, the narrative illustrates the vital role memory plays in fighting oppression, and the deleterious impact the collective erasure of a remembered past can have on freedom. One of the most insidious aspects of the situation is the collective amnesia that sets in and the complacency with which most of the inhabitants, including the narrator, handle each disappearance. Motivated by fear, they accommodate the disappearance and treat the gradual erosion of self and of freedom with equanimity. As their world shrinks, their capacity to experience the world shrinks until all that remains is a disembodied voice.
Highly recommended.