In the first major overview of the latest and most challenging development in French cultural studies, this volume approaches the field of performance theory in its diverse applications. At the end of the twentieth century performance has become a highly significant theoretical framework that offers a new perspective on identity formation, the relationship of self and other, and the transformational properties of language. Inspired by the ideas of French and Anglo-American thinkers, including J.L. Austin, Roland Barthes, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Hélène Cixous, Erving Goffman, and Julia Kristeva, the authors engage with performance studies in four major areas of current concern: the body, the image, language and politics. In a wide-ranging series of new theoretical and applied readings, they apply their insights to the Commedia dell'Arte, the cinema of Kieslowski, the writings of Duras, Genet, Robbe-Grillet and Bernard Noël, as well as the performative artistry of figures as diverse as Orlan and de Gaulle. This book makes an invaluable contribution to the analysis of both literary and film theory.