Persecution and the Art of Writing
- Persecution and the Art of Writing
"Persecution and the Art of Writing" is a book containing five previously published essays, all dealing with the relationship between politics and philosophy, written by Leo Strauss. The thesis of the book is that many ancient and early modern political philosophers, in order to avoid persecution, hid their most heterodox ideas within their texts.
Throughout the book Strauss attempts to look at various pre-modern philosophers, and look at ways to find their esoteric meanings. In his essay on Maimonides' "Guide for the Perplexed" he explains how Maimonides' writings are related to hidden meanings in the Torah.
Strauss goes over various ways of hiding meaning, and determines that contradiction is the most effective. The basic idea seems to be that by purposely contradicting yourself, or contradicting what is quoted, hidden meanings can be concealed in the text. For instance, if a text misattributes ideas to a classic text, you can know that those are actually the author's ideas.
Although, these things may at times be apparent, Strauss often picks up the techniques he is describing and uses them to one extent or another in his own text. The many footnotes, often containing cryptic information, are necessary to understand the text.
The essays contained in the book: "Introduction to "Persecution and the Art of Writing"," "Persecution and the Art of Writing," "The Literary Character of the "Guide for the Perplexed"," "The Law of Reason in the "Kuzari"," and "How to Study Spinoza's "Theologico-Political Treatise"."
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