Papers by Adam Smith
Expedition, 2022
New transcription of the text on C355. https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/19769
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2021
In this article we review the newly published fourth-century bce manuscript of the Book of Odes (... more In this article we review the newly published fourth-century bce manuscript of the Book of Odes (Shi jing 詩經) in the collection of Anhui University. We describe the preservation and material features of the manuscript, discuss issues of provenance, and compare the text with the received version of the Odes. We conclude that the text of the Odes was already fundamentally stable by the date of the manuscript, and that written versions like the Anda manuscript provided important support for the stability of the text. However, we also argue that the manuscript shows signs of having been produced from memory, rather than sight-copying from another manuscript. We suggest that the function of the Anda manuscript was to support the learning and memorization of the Odes.
CONCLUSION
Given the extent and nature of the variation between the Anda Odes and the received Mao text, we are confident that the text of the Odes was fundamentally stable by the fourth century bce.Footnote 99 The orthography of the two versions differs dramatically, as we have learned to expect from Warring States manuscripts with transmitted counterparts. The Anda version is certainly an imperfect text, containing obvious errors. These vary from simple slips of the brush to more substantial failures of competence on the part of the scribe. Once we recognize the role of orthography and scribal competence in producing variation, it becomes clearer that most odes are close to being linguistically identical.
The fallibility of the scribe indicates that the manuscript was produced relying substantially on memory. It reflects the scribe's current state of partial mastery of the Odes, presumably acquired by learning with or emulating someone whose expertise exceeded his own. At least for the Guo feng sections, knowledge of the Odes was acquired Guo feng by Guo feng.Footnote 100 Memorization of the sequence of odes within a Guo feng section was important, since sequences are a way of avoiding omissions. We think it likely that learners of the Odes reproduced the text from standard lists of ode titles which they memorized. These titles, usually based on words from the opening line, were well established by the fourth century bce, and are common to the Anda manuscript, the Mao Odes, and citations in other texts. Meter, rhyme, and patterns of repetition from verse to verse ensured that the text within each verse was reliably established. Other features that were not controlled by memorized cues, such as the sequence of verses within an ode, were more free to vary during recall.
This textual stability and emphasis on memorization make it unlikely that the text of the Odes was subject to any kind of creative reworking. At this date and subsequently, creative approaches to the Odes were confined to interpretation of an essentially fixed text, and imagining the source and motivation for its original composition, and did not extend to modifications of its language.
The presence of written copies that served to maintain the stability of the Odes coexisted with a tradition of memorization and oral performance of the Odes.Footnote 101 We know from Warring States literature that citation of odes in extempore court speech was a prized skill. It was expected that a known repertoire of odes would be quoted and recognized in courtly speech and in prose compositions allied with that tradition of courtly persuasion and argument.Footnote 102 The Anda manuscript demonstrates the use of writing and documentary conventions to establish linguistic and organizational stability in a large text. A written manuscript was an indispensable tool to support the Odes learner's task of memorization, and perhaps a way of demonstrating that the task had been achieved.
In his Research Note, " Shun 舜 and the Interpretation of Early Orthographical Variation, " in thi... more In his Research Note, " Shun 舜 and the Interpretation of Early Orthographical Variation, " in this issue of Early China, Jonathan Smith made several claims about the early evolution of the graph 舜, in particular suggesting that it should be identified with the graph lin 粦 that occurs in certain Western Zhou bronze inscriptions. While showing that these claims are ill-supported, I nevertheless concur in the identification with the bronze-inscriptional graph, but show that the word being written is 濬 ∼ 浚 " deep, profound " and in no way connected with lin 粦.
The two winged lions that confront each other across the span
of the Rotunda are the oldest and m... more The two winged lions that confront each other across the span
of the Rotunda are the oldest and most massive Chinese sculptures
at the Penn Museum. Carved around 200 CE, as the Eastern
Han dynasty (25–220 CE) was disintegrating, they predate
all the stone monuments surrounding them in the gallery,
and represent the first flourishing of monumental
stone sculpture in East Asia.
Writing and Literacy in Early China, edited by Li Feng and David Prager Branner, University of Washington Press, 2011
Agency in Ancient Writing, edited by Joshua Engelhardt. Boulder: University Press of Colorado., 2012
These English psychologists-what is it they want? We find them, voluntarily or involuntarily, eve... more These English psychologists-what is it they want? We find them, voluntarily or involuntarily, ever engaged in the same work, -the work of pushing into the foreground the partie honteuse of our inner world and of seeking for the really operative, really imperative and decisive factor in history just there, where the intellectual pride of man would least wish to find it (for example, in the vis inertiae of custom or in forgetfulness or in some blind and accidental hooking-together and mechanism of ideas or in something purely-passive, automatic, reflexmotion-like, molecular and thoroughly stupid).
Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World, edited by John M. Steele. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2010
Archaeologies of Text: Archaeology, Technology and Ethics
Book Reviews by Adam Smith
Takashima's Little Primer [LP] is a welcome addition to the tools available for teaching early Ch... more Takashima's Little Primer [LP] is a welcome addition to the tools available for teaching early China, and the history of the Chinese language and script. It presents a sequence of 40 examples of divination records from the late 2 nd millennium BCE, mostly from Anyang. Each example is provided with an image of the original text, a transcription into normalized Chinese orthography, an English translation, and a discussion often lengthy) of linguistic or other matters arising. The exercises promised in the title pop up sporadically throughout the book. As the author states, LP owes a certain amount to the palaeography textbook by Liu Xiang 劉翔 et al., Shang Zhou guwenzi duben 商周古文字讀本 (Beijing, 1989), and in places expands critically on the material presented there. Nevertheless, LP goes well beyond the treatment of divination records by Liu et al. in terms of the number examples and the range of discussion.
Talks by Adam Smith
"Off the Shelf" talk at the Penn Museum Library
Conference Presentations by Adam Smith
November 3-4, 2018, 9 am - 6 pm
Penn Museum, Nevil Classroom
ORGANIZERS:
Adam D. Smith
Maddalena... more November 3-4, 2018, 9 am - 6 pm
Penn Museum, Nevil Classroom
ORGANIZERS:
Adam D. Smith
Maddalena Poli
SPEAKERS:
William Baxter
Wolfgang Behr
Chen Lin
Constance Cook
Paul R. Goldin
Guo Jue 郭珏
Philip Jones
Lai Guolong 來國龍
Simon Martin
Maddalena Poli
Adam D. Smith
Sun Yan 孫岩
Stephen J. Tinney
Crispin Williams
Drafts by Adam Smith
This is a draft paper on the newly published Book of Odes manuscript in the collection of Anhui U... more This is a draft paper on the newly published Book of Odes manuscript in the collection of Anhui University. We welcome comments on both the broad conclusions and technical details.
Uploads
Papers by Adam Smith
CONCLUSION
Given the extent and nature of the variation between the Anda Odes and the received Mao text, we are confident that the text of the Odes was fundamentally stable by the fourth century bce.Footnote 99 The orthography of the two versions differs dramatically, as we have learned to expect from Warring States manuscripts with transmitted counterparts. The Anda version is certainly an imperfect text, containing obvious errors. These vary from simple slips of the brush to more substantial failures of competence on the part of the scribe. Once we recognize the role of orthography and scribal competence in producing variation, it becomes clearer that most odes are close to being linguistically identical.
The fallibility of the scribe indicates that the manuscript was produced relying substantially on memory. It reflects the scribe's current state of partial mastery of the Odes, presumably acquired by learning with or emulating someone whose expertise exceeded his own. At least for the Guo feng sections, knowledge of the Odes was acquired Guo feng by Guo feng.Footnote 100 Memorization of the sequence of odes within a Guo feng section was important, since sequences are a way of avoiding omissions. We think it likely that learners of the Odes reproduced the text from standard lists of ode titles which they memorized. These titles, usually based on words from the opening line, were well established by the fourth century bce, and are common to the Anda manuscript, the Mao Odes, and citations in other texts. Meter, rhyme, and patterns of repetition from verse to verse ensured that the text within each verse was reliably established. Other features that were not controlled by memorized cues, such as the sequence of verses within an ode, were more free to vary during recall.
This textual stability and emphasis on memorization make it unlikely that the text of the Odes was subject to any kind of creative reworking. At this date and subsequently, creative approaches to the Odes were confined to interpretation of an essentially fixed text, and imagining the source and motivation for its original composition, and did not extend to modifications of its language.
The presence of written copies that served to maintain the stability of the Odes coexisted with a tradition of memorization and oral performance of the Odes.Footnote 101 We know from Warring States literature that citation of odes in extempore court speech was a prized skill. It was expected that a known repertoire of odes would be quoted and recognized in courtly speech and in prose compositions allied with that tradition of courtly persuasion and argument.Footnote 102 The Anda manuscript demonstrates the use of writing and documentary conventions to establish linguistic and organizational stability in a large text. A written manuscript was an indispensable tool to support the Odes learner's task of memorization, and perhaps a way of demonstrating that the task had been achieved.
of the Rotunda are the oldest and most massive Chinese sculptures
at the Penn Museum. Carved around 200 CE, as the Eastern
Han dynasty (25–220 CE) was disintegrating, they predate
all the stone monuments surrounding them in the gallery,
and represent the first flourishing of monumental
stone sculpture in East Asia.
Book Reviews by Adam Smith
Talks by Adam Smith
Conference Presentations by Adam Smith
Penn Museum, Nevil Classroom
ORGANIZERS:
Adam D. Smith
Maddalena Poli
SPEAKERS:
William Baxter
Wolfgang Behr
Chen Lin
Constance Cook
Paul R. Goldin
Guo Jue 郭珏
Philip Jones
Lai Guolong 來國龍
Simon Martin
Maddalena Poli
Adam D. Smith
Sun Yan 孫岩
Stephen J. Tinney
Crispin Williams
Drafts by Adam Smith
CONCLUSION
Given the extent and nature of the variation between the Anda Odes and the received Mao text, we are confident that the text of the Odes was fundamentally stable by the fourth century bce.Footnote 99 The orthography of the two versions differs dramatically, as we have learned to expect from Warring States manuscripts with transmitted counterparts. The Anda version is certainly an imperfect text, containing obvious errors. These vary from simple slips of the brush to more substantial failures of competence on the part of the scribe. Once we recognize the role of orthography and scribal competence in producing variation, it becomes clearer that most odes are close to being linguistically identical.
The fallibility of the scribe indicates that the manuscript was produced relying substantially on memory. It reflects the scribe's current state of partial mastery of the Odes, presumably acquired by learning with or emulating someone whose expertise exceeded his own. At least for the Guo feng sections, knowledge of the Odes was acquired Guo feng by Guo feng.Footnote 100 Memorization of the sequence of odes within a Guo feng section was important, since sequences are a way of avoiding omissions. We think it likely that learners of the Odes reproduced the text from standard lists of ode titles which they memorized. These titles, usually based on words from the opening line, were well established by the fourth century bce, and are common to the Anda manuscript, the Mao Odes, and citations in other texts. Meter, rhyme, and patterns of repetition from verse to verse ensured that the text within each verse was reliably established. Other features that were not controlled by memorized cues, such as the sequence of verses within an ode, were more free to vary during recall.
This textual stability and emphasis on memorization make it unlikely that the text of the Odes was subject to any kind of creative reworking. At this date and subsequently, creative approaches to the Odes were confined to interpretation of an essentially fixed text, and imagining the source and motivation for its original composition, and did not extend to modifications of its language.
The presence of written copies that served to maintain the stability of the Odes coexisted with a tradition of memorization and oral performance of the Odes.Footnote 101 We know from Warring States literature that citation of odes in extempore court speech was a prized skill. It was expected that a known repertoire of odes would be quoted and recognized in courtly speech and in prose compositions allied with that tradition of courtly persuasion and argument.Footnote 102 The Anda manuscript demonstrates the use of writing and documentary conventions to establish linguistic and organizational stability in a large text. A written manuscript was an indispensable tool to support the Odes learner's task of memorization, and perhaps a way of demonstrating that the task had been achieved.
of the Rotunda are the oldest and most massive Chinese sculptures
at the Penn Museum. Carved around 200 CE, as the Eastern
Han dynasty (25–220 CE) was disintegrating, they predate
all the stone monuments surrounding them in the gallery,
and represent the first flourishing of monumental
stone sculpture in East Asia.
Penn Museum, Nevil Classroom
ORGANIZERS:
Adam D. Smith
Maddalena Poli
SPEAKERS:
William Baxter
Wolfgang Behr
Chen Lin
Constance Cook
Paul R. Goldin
Guo Jue 郭珏
Philip Jones
Lai Guolong 來國龍
Simon Martin
Maddalena Poli
Adam D. Smith
Sun Yan 孫岩
Stephen J. Tinney
Crispin Williams