Second-Order Literary Theory

This chapter offers ideas for a ‘second-order’ literary theory suited to the analysis of literary texts that work with literary theory. It considers to look at four aspects in order to identify the precise role of theory in literary texts: How is theory integrated into literature (mode)? Where in the texts are the elements of theory (level)? Why is theory integrated into literature (function)? And finally: What ideas developed in the literary text could be adopted in literary theory (extrapolation)? This conceptualization assumes a (potentially infinite) scale of observations: theory observes literature; literature observes theory observing literature; second-order literary theory observes literature observing theory observing literature, and so forth. Taken together, the four dimensions sketch out the steps necessary to better understand literary texts with elements of literary theory. While the discussion in the following is largely limited to literary theory, it would most likely work in an analogue way for other forms of theory as well.