Performatives After Deconstruction

Reviews / Votes

Senatore has put together an excellent collection on the question of the performative as it relates to a number of different academic fields. The book brings together some of the most complex questions of the nature of performativity, and will be an excellent teaching tool for anyone interested in the question not only of the performative but also of psychoanalysis and the thinking of the later Derrida. -- Drucilla Cornell, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, USA This is an extraordinary collection of essays on a theme that is often neglected and even more often misunderstood in deconstruction. The volume traces deconstruction's contribution to the theory of the performative from Derrida's early works on speech act theory right up to his last published words, from his rethinking of such notions as the promise, hospitality, friendship, democracy, responsibility, decision, ethics, and the event, to his own performative engagements with notions of the archive, survival, the signature, art, poetry, the history of psychoanalysis, and the testamentary. If both a theory and a practice of the performative are essential to deconstruction, this volume is indispensable for understanding what deconstruction is and what the performative has become in its wake. -- Michael Naas, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, De Paul University, USA Almost every dimension of contemporary critical discourse has been affected by the debates between Anglo-American and continental thinkers concerning the structure and function of the performative. This volume not only addresses the problem of the performative from a variety of perspectives, it also provides insight into its genesis: how it is that the "performativity of the performative" has become a decisive question for contemporary culture. -- Peter Fenves, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Political Science, and English, Northwestern University USA Every contribution in this outstanding collection demonstrates that if deconstruction 'appropriates' the performative that finds its roots in the tradition of speech act theory, it is in order to push its logic to the point where it becomes unrecognizable. Senatore has assembled a stellar group of scholars, and together they have compiled an exceptional collection of essays on a topic that is close to the heart of deconstruction and, in light of this, has been too often overlooked. Each contribution brings something unique to this volume, and I suspect that it will have an important and lasting effect on the way we read Derrida. -- Vernon W. Cisney * Notre Dame Philosophical Review *