The Memory Police

The Memory Police

First edition cover (Japan)
Author	Yōko Ogawa
Audio read by	Traci Kato-Kiriyama
Original title	密やかな結晶 (Hisoyaka na Kesshō)
Translator	Stephen Snyder
Cover artist	Michiaki Mochizuki
Language	Japanese
Genre	Science Fiction
Publisher	Kodansha
Publication date	26 January 1994
Publication place	Japan
Published in English	13 August 2019
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	411
ISBN	406205843X
Dewey Decimal	895.63/5
LC Class	PL858.G37 H5713 2019

The Memory Police (Japanese: 密やかな結晶, Hepburn: Hisoyaka na Kesshō, "Secret Crystallization") is a 1994 science fiction novel by Yōko Ogawa. The novel, dream-like in tone in a manner influenced by modernist writer Franz Kafka, takes place on an island with a setting reminiscent of that in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. An English translation by Stephen Snyder was published by Pantheon Books and Harvill Secker in 2019.

Plot

The story follows a novelist on an island under the control of the Memory Police. An unknown force causes the people of the island to collectively 'forget' and lose their attachment to objects or concepts, e.g. hats, perfume, birds and ribbon. The Memory Police enforce the removal of these objects from the island, and of the people who continue to remember, such as the author's mother. Some who continue to remember are being surveilled and taken by the Police.

R, the author's editor, reveals himself to be one of those who are unable to forget the disappeared objects, and fears that he will be taken by the Memory Police. With the help of an old man, a family friend, the protagonist arranges and hides R in a secret room in her home. One day, the old man is briefly taken away by the Police. Upon his release, he tells her that the Police are investigating a few defectors who escaped the island by boat, and he was interrogated as he worked with boats before. While hiding, R then tries to introduce some of the long disappeared objects to the author and the old man, though both struggle to recall their significance and memories of the objects.

As the calendars disappear, the winter continues and spring never comes. Food is becoming scarce on the island. The Memory Police raid the author's house as they celebrate the old man's birthday, but fail to discover the secret room, leaving them free. Novels then disappear as well. On R's advice, she continues to work on her ongoing novel and keeps some books, although she has begun to lose attachment to books. She takes up another job as a typist at a trading company. After an earthquake, some of her mother's sculptures, given back by a family friend, break and reveal more objects that had disappeared, including a ferry ticket and a harmonica. She decides to investigate her mother's cabin, which R believes contains more objects that have long disappeared. The author, along with the old man, manages to retrieve the objects and hide them in her home.

One day, the old man dies from a brain hemorrhage. Soon after, the inhabitants are made to forget some of their body parts, with the Memory Police capturing those who continue to retain their sense of the "disappeared" body parts. The author, despite much difficulty, manages to finish her novel about a typist. The inhabitants, including the author, slowly began to accept their fate as they forget their own existence and slowly vanish. Before disappearing, the author reassures R that he may be able to come out of hiding along with others who manage to preserve their memories of other objects.

Reception

In an article naming it one of the best books of the Summer of 2019, Time wrote, "Ogawa's fable echoes the themes of George Orwell's 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude, but it has a voice and power all its own." The Chicago Tribune called it: "A masterful work of speculative fiction [...] An unforgettable literary thriller full of atmospheric horror."

The New York Times compared it to the novels of Samuel Beckett and Kobo Abe, saying "Ogawa's ruminant style captures the alienation of being alive as the world's ecosystems, ice sheets, languages, animal species and possible futures vanish more quickly than any one mind can apprehend."

Michael Adam Carroll, writing in Ploughshares, was chilled by its timeliness: "Ogawa hits on something real in her novel—we must remember to write and write to remember, to ensure the survival of truth."

Awards and recognition

The Memory Police was named a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature, as well as for the 2020 International Booker Prize. It was also named a finalist for the 2020 World Fantasy Award.

Publication history

• 密やかな結晶. Japan: Kodansha. 26 January 1994. ISBN 406205843X. 411 pages.
• The Memory Police. United States: Pantheon Books. 13 August 2019. ISBN 978-1-101-87060-0. 288 pages.
• The Memory Police. United Kingdom: Harvill Secker. 15 August 2019. ISBN 978-1-84655-949-5. 288 pages.
• L'isola dei senza memoria. Italy: il Saggiatore. 2018. ISBN 978-8842822769. 250 pages.