A short life of the author
Judith Butler (b. 24 February 1956) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. They are Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School.
Life and Career
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) — which argues that gender is not an innate quality but a performance, constituted through repeated acts that create the illusion of a stable gendered identity — is one of the most influential works of philosophy published in the late twentieth century. It helped found the field of queer theory and reshaped feminist thought.
Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (1993) clarified and extended the argument, addressing charges of voluntarism — the misreading that if gender is “performed,” one can choose to perform differently. Butler argues that performativity is not a matter of individual choice but of regulatory norms that produce and constrain subjects.
Undoing Gender (2004) and Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (2009) extended their work into ethics, human rights, and the politics of mourning.
Major Works and Themes
Butler writes about power, gender, violence, and the conditions under which lives are recognized as lives. Their prose is notoriously difficult but rewards close reading.
Key Works
- Gender Trouble (1990)
- Bodies That Matter (1993)
Collecting Butler
Gender Trouble first edition (Routledge, 1990) in fine condition brings $200–$500 — a key text in twentieth-century philosophy. Butler continues to publish.