Persecution and the Art of Writing

“The locus classicus of Strauss’s theory of ‘esoteric writing,’ which he . . . emphatically exemplifies in three brilliant and influential interpretations.” —Nathan Tarcov, University of Chicago

The essays collected in Persecution and the Art of Writing all deal with one problem—the relation between philosophy and politics. Here, Strauss sets forth the thesis that many philosophers, especially political philosophers, have reacted to the threat of persecution by disguising their most controversial and heterodox ideas.

“It is [Strauss’s] thesis that few, if any, of the Great Books in philosophy and political philosophy . . . can simply be ‘read,’ no matter how vigorously . . . They have to be studied, and in a special way, for if they are truly great, it is probably their intention to conceal as well as to reveal . . . The bulk of Persecution and the Art of Writing is devoted to three long essays on ‘the art of reading’ Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, Judah Halevi’s Kuzari, and Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus . . . [These essays] are so closely reasoned, so brilliant in their analysis of details of style and argument, that it is impossible fairly to summarize them.” —Irving Kristol, Commentary