Table of Contents

Introduction 1. From the Performative to the Speech Act: J.L. Austin 2. Philosophy and Ordinary Language: Austin and Cavell 3. A General Theory of Speech Acts: Searle 4. Speech Acts, Fiction and Deconstruction: Searle, Fish and Derrida 5. Performativity, Iterability and Politics: Derrida and De Man 6. Being Performative: Butler 7. Performativity and Performance Theory

About the Author

James Loxley is senior lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of several books and articles on seventeenth century drama and poetry and on literary theory and philosophy.