Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte How to do Things with Butler An Inquiry on the Origin, Citation and Application of Judith Butler’s Theory of Performativity Sarah Claeys Scriptie Ingediend tot het Behalen van de Graad van Licentiaat in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Germaanse Talen Academiejaar: 2006-2007 Promotor: Dr. Katrien De Moor Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1. On LANGUAGE the Linguistic Performative ....................................................................... 5 1.1. AUSTIN: THE FIRST FORMULATION OF THE PERFORMATIVE ............................................... 6 CONSTATIVE AND PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCES .................................................................. 6 UNHAPPY PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCES .............................................................................. 7 IMPLICIT PERFORMATIVES ................................................................................................... 8 A GENERAL DOCTRINE OF SPEECH ACTS ............................................................................... 9 (UN)INTENTIONAL EFFECTS ............................................................................................... 10 A SPECIAL DOCTRINE OF THE ILLOCUTIONARY ACT ............................................................ 11 THE WEAKNESS OF THE PERFORMATIVE ............................................................................. 12 1.2. DERRIDA: DECONSTRUCTING AUSTIN ............................................................................. 12 CITATIONALITY AS AN INTRINSIC PART OF LANGUAGE ....................................................... 13 CITATIONAL GRAFTING ...................................................................................................... 14 1.3. FELMAN: RE-EVALUATING AUSTIN ................................................................................. 15 FAILURE AS AN INTRINSIC PART OF THE PERFORMATIVE .................................................... 16 A SERIOUS PERFORMATIVE ................................................................................................. 16 THE IRREDUCIBLE SCANDAL .............................................................................................. 19 EXCITABLE SPEECH ............................................................................................................ 20 2. On SUBJECTS Language and Law bringing Subjects into Being ...................................... 23 2.1. HEGEL: THE DIALECTIC PROCESS .................................................................................... 23 INTRODUCING A HEGELIAN SUBJECT AND ITS METAPHYSICAL JOURNEY ............................ 24 THE DIALECTIC: THESIS – ANTITHESIS – SYNTHESIS ........................................................... 25 WRITING WITH STYLE: A DIALECTICAL DEBATE WITH THE SELF ......................................... 26 DESIRE FOR THE OTHER AND DESIRE FOR THE SELF ............................................................ 29 HEGEL‘S ‗AUFHEBUNG‘: TO LIFT UP, CANCEL AND PRESERVE ............................................ 30 LORD AND BONDSMAN: A CONSCIOUSNESS THAT IS SPLIT .................................................. 31 INTERSUBJECTIVITY: THE SELF AND THE OTHER ................................................................ 32 2.2. ALTHUSSER: INTERPELLATION ........................................................................................ 33 THE IDEOLOGICAL STATE APPARATUSES ............................................................................ 34 THE INTERPELLATIVE CALL: ‗HEY JUDE‘ ............................................................................ 35 GIRLING AND BOYING ........................................................................................................ 37 AGENCY AND SUBJECTION ................................................................................................. 38 2.3. FOUCAULT: DISCOURSE AND POWER ............................................................................... 39 FOUCAULT AND THE GENEALOGY OF ‗SEXUALITY‘ ............................................................ 40 POWER THROUGH DISCOURSE ............................................................................................ 41 3. On GENDER the Heterosexual Matrix and Gender Performativity .................................... 43 3.1. IDENTITY ........................................................................................................................ 44 THE INTELECTUAL BATTLE BETWEEN ESSENTIALIST AND CONSTRUCTIONIST FEMINISTS ... 44 ‗WOMAN‘ AS A UNIVERSAL CATEGORY .............................................................................. 45 ‗WOMAN‘ AS A TERM IN PROCESS ...................................................................................... 46 QUEER THEORY .................................................................................................................. 48 i 3.2. GENDER TROUBLE AND THE HETEROSEXUAL MATRIX ................................................... 50 SEX , GENDER, DESIRE ........................................................................................................ 50 DESIRE: GAYLE RUBIN, SEX AND SEXUALITY ...................................................................... 53 THE HETEROSEXUAL MATRIX ............................................................................................. 54 3.3. GENDER PERFORMATIVITY OUT OF THE CLOSET ............................................................. 55 WHY DON‘T YOU DO RIGHT (LIKE SOME OTHER MEN DO) ................................................... 57 DRAG AS A WAY OUT OF THE HETEROSEXUAL MATRIX....................................................... 58 DRAG AS REINFORCING THE HETEROSEXUAL MATRIX ........................................................ 59 VENUS XTRAVAGANZA: PERFORMATIVE OR CONSTATIVE .................................................. 61 PERFORMATIVITY/PERFORMANCE: THE ACTOR ON STAGE .................................................. 62 PERFORMATIVITY/PERFORMANCE: AT THE CROSSROAD OF AGENCY AND DETERMINISM .... 64 BUTCH/FEMME: IMITATION OR REAPPROPRIATION ............................................................. 66 3.4. WHEN PERFORMATIVITY AND PERFORMANCE MEET: PARODY, MOCKERY, SHAME ........ 67 QUEER PERFORMATIVITY ................................................................................................... 68 WITNESS AND MARRIAGE: IN THE PRESENCE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS ............................... 69 SHAMEFUL INTERPELLATIONS ............................................................................................ 70 4. On BODIES Matter, Matrix and the Performative Body ..................................................... 73 4.1. MATERIALITY ................................................................................................................. 74 INTERSEX AND GENDER ASSIGNMENT ................................................................................ 74 MATTER, MATRIX, HYLE .................................................................................................... 75 BODY AND SOUL, MATTER AND MATRIX............................................................................. 76 4.2. INCORPORATION ............................................................................................................. 77 FREUD‘S MELANCHOLIA .................................................................................................... 78 MELANCHOLIC HETEROSEXUALITY .................................................................................... 80 INCORPORATION ................................................................................................................ 81 5. A Butlerian Analysis Fluidity of Identity in Jackie Kay‘s Trumpet .................................... 84 5.1. JOSS MOODY‘S TRUMPET ................................................................................................ 85 BILLY TIPTON ..................................................................................................................... 85 AMBITION OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION ................................................................................. 86 REFUSING CATEGORIZATION .............................................................................................. 88 5.2. PERFORMATIVE GENDER ................................................................................................ 90 REGULATING THE HETEROSEXUAL MATRIX........................................................................ 91 LAYING BARE THE TRUTH .................................................................................................. 93 THE STORY OF MY LIFE : VARIATIONS ON THE SAME THEME ............................................... 94 WHAT‘S IN A NAME: COLMAN ............................................................................................ 95 DIFFERENT LAYERS AND NICKNAMES ................................................................................ 97 COMPLEX IDENTITY: SOPHIE STONES ................................................................................. 98 PERFORMATIVITY AND RACE ........................................................................................... 101 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 105 Works Cited ..........................................................................................................................