This study implies an investigation of digital practices in the virtual world Second Life, which forms the empirical ground for tentatively answering the question how virtual worlds can support literary competences for the 21st century, where the media density transforms ways-of-being-with-words as well as ways of reading and making meaning across languaging modalities. The study is inspired by current ethnographic methodology for digital environments, more specifically the steps between planning, entry, and data collection, as well as the role of the researcher as an individual experiencing and embodying, in a unique way, the surrounding virtual world. In order to orient the study towards data with potential relevance for literature teaching and learning, a thematic selection has been made from the vast and varied environment of Second Life. The chosen theme is “Amor and Eros”, since love is a common theme in literature, and literary themes inscribed in the Swedish curriculum for secondary school. Furthermore, love and eroticism are examples of universal concepts in evolution through digitally mediated communicative practices. The findings are analytically framed by narratological concepts, and the results present affordances of virtual worlds in literature studies, as well as challenges that prevent these to be widely used in the learning of literary competences. The digitalization of the humanities is at the core of the reflection in the current study, contributing to ways of rethinking language and literature learning and instruction in the 21st century.