Do our writings and our utterances reflect or describe our world, or do
they intervene in it? Do they, perhaps, help to make it? If so, how?
Within what limits, and with what implications? Contemporary theorists
have considered the ways in which the languages we speak might be
'performative' in just this way, and their thinking on the topic has had
an important impact on a broad range of academic disciplines.
In this accessible introduction to a sometimes complex field, James
Loxley:
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offers a concise and original account of critical debates around the
idea of performativity
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traces the history of the concept through the work of such influential
theorists as J. L. Austin, John Searle, Stanley Fish, Jacques Derrida,
Paul de Man and Judith Butler
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examines the implications of performativity for fields such as
literary and cultural theory, philosophy, performance studies, and the
theory of gender and sexuality.
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emphasises the political and ethical implications that its most
important theorists have drawn from the notion of performativity
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suggests ways in which major debates around the topic have obscured
its alternative interpretations and uses.
For students trying to make sense of performativity and related concepts
such as the speech act, 'ordinary language', and iterability, and for
those seeking to understand the place of these ideas in contemporary
performance theory, this clear guide will prove indispensable.
Performativity offers not only a path through challenging critical
terrain, but a new understanding of just what is at stake in the
exploration of this field.
