Inferring and Explaining

ChaPter ten Textual Interpretation It is the task of the historian of culture to explain why there has been in the last four decades a heavy and largely victorious assault on the sensible belief that a text means what its author meant. —e. D. hIrsh 1 Sounds, Shapes, Gestures, and Dashes and Dots My generation grewupwith two things that have largely been spared to most of you. Radios, news- papers, television, novels, and movies all told us that the world would end in nuclear war. And probably as a result of movies depicting World War II, we all had an idea of the telegraph and Morse code. All this played into a wonderful, if creepy, movie classic, On the Beach . An acciden- tal nuclear war has wiped out most of the world, and only Australia has survivors, but they have less than a year to live. A US Navy ship decides to return to theWest Coast, partlybecause theywant to die at home and partly because the Australian base has been receiving gibberish in Morse code from a location in San Diego. What should we make of those seemingly randomdashes anddots? e 1 . The base has been receiving gibberish on its telegraph from a source in San Diego. How should we explain this? Is it a cry for help? A survivor simply desiring long-distance com- panionship? Or is there some other explanation? You’re driving on the interstate; you come up quickly on a car ahead, change lanes, and pass. As you pass, the driver’s lef hand comes 87