The Limits of Object-Oriented Literary Analysis in Rereading Emily Dickinson’s “My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun”

The Limits of Object-Oriented Literary Analysis in Rereading Emily Dickinson’s “My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun”

Emily Dickinson’s “My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun (F764)” warrants renewed attention within the current posthuman scholarship, as this ambiguous poem resists coherent interpretation from both traditionally humanist readings and recent object-oriented approaches. This article bridges the gap between them through Rosi Braidotti’s view on the rhizome. For Dickinson, the position of the subject expands to nonhuman beings - the presumed authority of the human speaker is challenged by bodies that would be considered as objects. Thus it is my argument that the poem is a metaphorical discourse on the possibility of material subjectivity. Additionally, I examine the limits of object-oriented philosophies to emphasize that a posthuman feminist literary criticism starts not from rejecting subjects in favor of objects, but rather redefined affirmations of the subject position. In doing so, this article concludes that Dickinson’s poem produces an empowering sentiment as a woman poet; her act of giving a voice to a gun-speaker itself becoming an affirmatively ethical gesture.