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Damn it all, cris, I could almost give you a gong, for being the first person ever to mention an English twentieth century philosopher in positive terms on a list. I have a rule of thumb about those dry personages, they despise poetry and poets and why we should give credence to their desiccated thoughts defeats me. Plato wanted us banned, so I say, quite crudely, fuck off foolosiphers. Why the respect for groundless theory and posture? Should we not just admit that poetry is an expression of our vulnerability, our contingency, our mammal desperation? Hope Austin enjoyed indulging in his marriage. All the Best Dave David Bircumshaw Leicester, England Home Page A Chide's Alphabet Painting Without Numbers http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "cris cheek" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 10:07 AM Subject: Re: "This 'performative' poem" Hi David, i'll let Austin say it for me: 'To name the ship is to say (in the appropriate circumstances) the words 'I name, &c.'. When I say, before the registrar, &c., 'I do', I am not reporting on a marriage: I am indulging in it. What are we to call a sentence or an utterance of this type? I propose to call it a performative sentence or a performative utterance, or, for short, 'a performative'. The term 'performative' will be used in a variety of cagnate ways and constructions, much as the term 'imperative' is. The name is derived, of course, from 'perform', the usual verb with the noun 'action': it indicates that the issuing of the utterance is the performing of an action - it is not normally thought of as just saying something.' 'How To Do Things With Words' (Oxford: OUP, 1962) p6 more and more writers place this understanding on the front and not the back burner when they write I was enjoying reading Peter's sense of that. love and love cris