BLOOD AND OIL: HOW VAMPIRIC LITERATURE BOLSTERS BIG OIL’S POWER

This thesis examines the relationship between blood and oil, that is, the multitude of ways in which the petromodernity industries harvests and threatens vitality. The introduction of this thesis is concerned tracking how petromodernity is a byproduct, offspring, or extension of colonialism. In this way, petromodernity can be thought about as “petro-colonialism.” Ursula K. LeGuin’s “Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” informs the argument that the way thay petro-colonialism came to be and also maintains itself is by utilizing the “killer story.” This thesis also employs autorheoretical techniques informed by Lauren Fournier to show how petro-colonialism or “oiliness” sticks to its subjects. This thesis examines the metaphor of the vampire as just one example of a killer story which utimately upholds petromodern and colonial sensibilities like white supremacy, gender inequality, and the valorization of innovation and expansion.