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Abstract The method wars in Western academia at the turn of the 21st century reflects a critical reassessment of traditional literary criticism dominated by “suspicious hermeneutics.” Featured with interdisciplinarity， the symptomatic reading runs the risk of overshadowing and dissolving textual subjectivity. Against the backdrop of unidirectionality of current literary theory or interdisciplinary literary studies， it is necessary to call for a turn to agency of literature， which sees literature not only as a target of interpretation but also as a method for resolving problems， and thus helps to restore its original role as a technology. That said， literature is no longer just a passive object to be analyzed and interpreted. Instead， it is an effective means for constructing， shaping， and transforming the world—a means to resolve problems and a non-human actor to intervene in reality. Seeing literature not only as an object but also as a method， we aim to highlight the agency of literature in actor-network and respond to Eaglestone's concern of “why literature matters” and Felski's claim about “the uses of literature”.
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Received: 11 October 2025
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2025, Vol. 64 
