Some methodological issues in reading oracle-bone inscriptions

Abstract

This paper discusses hermeneutics arising from a fastidious reading of Adam C. Schwartz (2019) which is an English translation with commentary of the Oracle-Bone Inscriptions from Yinxu Huayuanzhuang Locus East, one of the most contextually cohesive, and archeologically well-documented, collection of OBI (acronym of “oracle-bone inscriptions”) unearthed to date. The paper underscores the importance of methodology of reading OBI. It will be seen that Schwartz’s book suffers from the lack of disciplined application of any particular persuasion. It is, in this sense, disappointing, though there is much else in the book that offers original ideas. As for the English translations Schwartz provides for each and every inscription of the collection, many are questionable (even unreliable), a few incomprehensible, and this is due mainly to failure of procuring a relevant bibliography and acquiring technical (linguistic) finesse to grasp and assess some important issues in the literature written in English.