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Coriolanus and the Failure of Performatives

John Plotz, Harvard University

Young people today can be said to be in a situation where ordinary common sense no longer suffices to meet the strange demands life makes. Everything has become so intricate that mastering it would require an exceptional intellect. Because skill at playing the game is no longer enough; the question that keeps coming up is: can the game be played at all now and what would be the right game to play? (welches ist das rechte Spiel?)

—Wittgenstein¹

1. Introduction
2. I. Introduction: Whose Tragedy?
3. Ii. Siding With The Public: The Problem With Recent Criticism
4. Iii. Rooted And Roted Speech
5. Iv. Desert And Not Desire: Coriolanus's Response
6. V. Who's Banished?
7. Vi. A Third Way? Not Utopia, Not Silence
8. Vii. A Third Way? Licking Language
9. Viii. Conclusion: Welches Ist Das Rechte Spiel?
10. Copyright