What does Theory with a capital T means, in context of literary Studies?

Theory in the context of literary studies would mean the Canon of texts which constitute the body of criticism that has emerged over a period of time to address the study of literary texts.Theory cannot be wished away since the obliteration of theory also has to be theorised. Looking at the evolution of literary studies one can find that various schools of criticism have emerged and they have tried to address the study of literature from different points of view, like New criticism, formalism,structuralism,post structuralism,postcolonialism,feminism, Marxism, existentialism, deconstruction and postmodernism. Theory has variously been regarded as the center, the notion,the bedrock or the reference point,hence a controlling influence. Liberation from Theory has been attempted, where the text is independent of all attachments, historical, personal and other but exists purely as a linguistic, semantic document.