Stirs up French author tearing out first page, then second (6)

'stirs up french author tearing out first page' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'second' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'second' could be 's' (common abbreviation) and 's' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'routs' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'then' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?