On Earth Day, April 22nd, the English Department held a Book Reading for Professor Michael Tondre’s newest work, Oil. Published last year, Oil is an addition to the Bloomsbury Publishing “Object Lessons” series, which aims to delve into, “the hidden lives of ordinary things.” Professor Tondre’s professorship at Stony Brook has incorporated his study of petro-culture and informed students of oil’s omnipresent nature in literature and society.

Professor Michael Rubenstein gave the introduction, noting that he and Tondre not only share a name, but a similar area of study as well. He spoke on his involvement in the first stages of Oil’s production, the two’s subsequent study of the energy regime, eco-criticism, and the overwhelming lens of petro-culture. Oil is a significant departure from Tondre’s first work published in 2018, The Physics of Possibility, which discusses the beginnings of mathematical physics in the Victorian age. However, Tondre has been a petro-scholar for a significant period, having written on the subject for several academic journals as well as focusing on literary ecocriticism as a professor at Stony Brook. Tondre began with speaking on the nature of oil itself, stating it is, “the most important thing in the modern world.”

As an energy source and the most significant contributor to climate change, oil, “created and destroys the world” — however, Tondre’s initial research revealed a significant chasm in petro-scholarship, the study of oil’s cultural impact. Referencing the 1969 film Easy Rider as well as the works of Virginia Woolf, Tondre discussed the near-constant representation of oil in art and literature. Regarding Oil’s cover, Tondre stated his appreciation for the clear imagery of, “hiding in plain sight” as that is analogous to his discussions of petro-culture throughout the text. Tondre went on to discuss Oil’s formatting and his intention to structure the book around the creation, production, and overuse of oil in modernity. He followed this overview by reading from the introduction, with striking lines such as, “oil appears as the raw substance of plurality itself.” He then read from the last chapter, acknowledging the conflicting relationship human beings have with petrol, citing it as an, “unusual love affair.” Despite our collective awareness of oil’s detrimental impact, we cling to it, not only as a resource, but a representation of cultural solace as well. The event ended with a Q&A where Tondre addressed corporate greenwashing, oil’s life cycle being represented in media, petro-capitalism, and his initial source of inspiration, Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel, Oil! Having the opportunity to attend such an informative and fascinating event, with distinct relevance to Earth Day, was an absolute privilege. Professor Tondre’s attentive work as a writer and professor will always be a source of inspiration to petro-students and readers of Oil alike.