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Albert Jay Nock came before the public in one capacity only, as a man of letters. That's the way he wanted it, believing that the rest of him was nobody's business. We do know that he was exposed to the "grand old fortifying classical curriculum" at St. Stephen's, where he earned a degree in 1892. He did graduate work in theology, was ordained and served three Episcopal parishes for a decade, entered the world of journalism, and won renown as an editor and belle lettrist.

His autobiography, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man (1943) was literary and philosophical, setting forth his views of life and society, how he came to hold them, and why. This is the kind of book that gets under a person's skin, performing catalytically to persuade the reader to become what he has it in him to be.

Those whom Nock has reached do not form a movement or a clique: such men as the eminent sociologist, Robert Nisbet, out in the South Pacific during World War II where he "practically memorized" the Memoirs; or the influential scholar, Russell Kirk, at an army camp reading Nock and corresponding with him. Nock was a frequent guest at the Buckley home during the early '40s, and it is safe to assume that the brilliant William F. Buckley, Jr., and his National Review owe something to these contacts. Nock inspires the reader to do his utmost for himself or herself as the only way there is for anyone to do some real service for anyone else. There's only one way to improve society, he used to say; present it with one improved unit - yourself.

Nock laid no claim to originality; he sought to give known, tried, and true ideas a new twist, a different slant which breaks through current stereotypes. As a critic he stands in the great succession of men like Rabelais and Artemus Ward, who knew that "for life to be fruitful, life must be felt as a joy; that it is by the bonds of joy, not of happiness or pleasure, not of duty or responsibility, that the called and chosen spirits are kept together in this world."

Nock's books were not best sellers, but they keep coming back into print. The weekly journal he edited from 1920 to 1924, The Freeman, had a small circulation, but scholars continue to draw on it, and discerning souls regard it as the high water mark of American journalism. Nock wrote for the educable few who simply want to get at the plain truth of things - The Remnant. "You do not know, and will never know, who the Remnant are, nor where they are, nor how many there are, nor what they are doing or will do. Two things you know, and no more; first, that they exist; and second, that they will find you."

Nock believed that he had uncovered the plain truth of things in several areas, and he set forth his elucidations in impeccable English, serene in his faith that this fully discharged his duty. The assumption back of this faith is that truth has an internal energy of its own, enabling it, if we don't stand in its way, to cut its own channels and gain acceptance in minds ready for it. Trying to make truth palatable for minds not ready for it is no service to the people involved, for it clogs whatever thought processes they have.

Truth tampered with is truth lost. The hard truth is what Nock is talking about: truth with the bark on it, truth unsophisticated by even good intentions, undiluted by ulterior considerations. Are there minds ready for this kind of truth? Nock believed that every society has such minds, else it would fall apart. Every society is held together by a select few - men and women who have the force of intellect to discern the rules upon which social life is contingent, and the force of character to exemplify those rules in their own living.

The Remnant grows, and they are finding him. Since Nock's death most of his titles have come back into print, only to be sold out. Two collections of letters were published posthumously, and another Journal. Two books have been written about Nock, one about his Freeman, plus several doctoral theses. Not bad for a superfluous man!

And there is a Nockian Society, at 30 South Broadway, Irvington, N.Y. 10533, with members throughout the world. The letterhead reads: "No officers, No dues, No meetings." He would have liked that!

Much of Nock's work defies time, which means that he will be discovered anew by each generation. Many will make his acquaintance in the new editions of his books, whose appearance is a happy portent that Nock's best writing will never for long be out of print.