Zucker, Catherine H., "Using Pre-Socratic Philosophy to Support Political Reform: The Athenian Stranger," Plato's Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009, 51-146.

Excerpt:

The Laws and the Epinomis are the only Platonic dialogues in which Socrates does not appear. They are usually thought to be the last dialogues Plato wrote. All three of the interlocutors are elderly, and there is an ancient report that Laws was left unedited in a wax impression only. In the course of the conversation, both the Athenian and his Dorian associates emphasize the advantages of recording such conversations in writing. Since the most obvious difference between Plato and his teacher Socrates is that Plato wrote and Socrates did not, some critics have concluded that the anonymous Athenian Stranger who seems to replace Socrates as Plato’s spokesman in these dialogues is Plato himself. In the guise of an anonymous Athenian, he both responds to and corrects proposals he himself put forth in Socrates’ mouth in the Republic.

Online:
Amazon