Stephen Snyder is an American translator and scholar specialising in modern and contemporary Japanese fiction. He is best known for translating Yoko Ogawa’s novel The Memory Police (2019), which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2020. Snyder also translated Kanae Minato’s novella Confessions, which won the 2015 Alex Award.
Born in the United States, Snyder initially studied English literature before turning to Japanese studies. His interest in reading authors such as Yasunari Kawabata in the original language led him to begin studying Japanese. His academic research focuses on narrative form in modern Japanese novels. He is the author of Fictions of Desire: Narrative Form in the Novels of Nagai Kafū and the co-editor of Ōe and Beyond: Fiction in Contemporary Japan.
Snyder joined the Japanese Studies department at Middlebury College in 2005. In 2014, he became dean of language schools and currently serves as vice president of academic affairs. He holds the Kawashima Professorship of Japanese Studies at Middlebury, where he oversees the Language Schools.
He began his career as a translator during his PhD studies, working on Tsuji Kunio’s Azuchi Okanki (The Signore). He has translated the works of several prominent Japanese authors, including Yōko Ogawa, Kenzaburō Ōe, Ryū Murakami and Miri Yu. His translations have appeared in journals including The New Yorker, Harper's and Granta.
Regarding his translation of The Memory Police, Snyder said, “The relevance… came from the genius of the text itself.” He explained that the novel’s resonance with timely issues such as ‘fake news’ and pandemic experiences was coincidental. “The translation is very faithful,” he added, emphasising the novel’s unique mood and tone.
The English title, The Memory Police, differs from the original Japanese title, Hisoyaka na Kesshō, which roughly translates as 'secret crystallisation'. Snyder explained, “I combined the two concepts to create the term 'Memory Police'.” This editorial choice, which Yoko Ogawa approved, focuses on the antagonists, but does not alter the thematic content.
Snyder's working relationship with Ogawa began by chance when he translated a story for a literary magazine that ultimately did not publish it. Instead, it appeared in The New Yorker, leading to further projects, including Diving Pool, The Housekeeper, and the Professor. Snyder remarked, “It has been a great pleasure and a singular honour to be her translator.”
Snyder’s translation process involves drafting directly from the Japanese text and refining it with editorial input. He noted that, although each work shapes its voice, similarities between his and Ogawa’s prose help to render her style effectively. ‘The world of the island in The Memory Police is unique,’ he said, describing the novel as ‘hypnotic and propulsive, despite its quiet tone’.
Beyond translation, Snyder’s academic work intersects with his literary interests. He stated that translation had proved an enormously fulfilling aspect of his academic career, becoming his primary focus many years ago.
Stephen Snyder oversees the Middlebury Language Schools while continuing his research on literary and translation studies.
Photo credit: www.middlebury.edu
