Abstract: Jonathan Keller has made several definitions about “theory” and the explanatory nature, by which the reflective and critical nature of “theory” is achieved precisely, is one of its characteristics. From Kahler’s point of view, cultural studies and “theory” are two interchangeable concepts, both originating from literary research but squeezing and rejecting it, which makes the transformation of methodology realized and interprets literature as a sign of social integrity. Therefore, the reading of literary objects has a series of distinctions of different types and different levels, such as poetic mode/hermeneutics mode, hermeneutics of restoration/hermeneutics of suspicion, and representational interpretation/symptomatic interpretation, etc. Through the clarification and collocation of these intricate and chaotic relationships, this article reveals that “theory”, as a new genre of humanities, has significant effects in promoting concept production, knowledge growth and academic construction.