ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses Judith Butler’s critique of a metaphysics of substance, which, in its most fundamental aspects, replicates Derrida’s critique of a metaphysics of presence. It furthermore explores her conception of gender as an imitation for which there is ‘no original’ and its parallels with Derrida’s denial of perception and phenomena as origins. Further parallels are drawn between the two philosophers and the story of Peter Pan as regards themes like naming, identities, forgetting, pretending, ecstasy, loss, and even motherhood. Pretending receives particular attention in this chapter, which traces the filial line of Butler’s gender performativity back to Derrida, who appropriated British philosopher J. L. Austin’s notion of performative speech acts. Furthermore, the chapter argues that gender as performance suggests a reading in terms of the eternal youth’s penchant for conflating pretend worlds with real ones, a theme that shows itself clearly in Peter Pan’s belief that make-believe and true are exactly the same thing. It further argues that forming an identity based on performance is, in Jungian terms, an identification with the persona.
