THIS STRANGE INSTITUTION CALLED PERFORMATIVITY: JACQUES DERRIDA, THE ANARCHY OF LITERATURE, AND THE COUNTERINSTITUTION OF DEMOCRACY

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between performativity and literature in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. It argues that the performativity of literature, which consists in the structural perversion of the force of language, underlies democratic forms of dissidence such as strike and protest. In this sense, protecting that strange institution called literature is crucial for safeguarding democracy and deconstructing the principle of sovereignty. The anarchy of force unleashed by literature constitutes a disruptive element of sovereignty, conceived as “self-performative”.