Perhaps that's why he has always seemed to want to preclude critical judgment with pre-emptive strikes within his prose, anticipating our responses and silencing us.
He was smart as a whip and cunning. 
mnli hypothesis: He was smart as a whip and cunning.  premise: Perhaps that's why he has always seemed to want to preclude critical judgment with pre-emptive strikes within his prose, anticipating our responses and silencing us.