Luca Demetriadi
PhD
Publishing and Communications
Luca Demetriadi is a current PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. Luca has a BA in English Literature from the University of Oxford and an MA in Modern Literature and Culture from King’s College London. Luca’s research explores contemporary independent publishers and social value.
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Thesis
Contemporary Australian independent publishers and the construction of coolness
My thesis considers why certain Australian independent publishers are considered cool, the strategies which have created this impression, and the effect of a perceived coolness on readers. I present how a publishing coolness is constructed through different units of analysis, such as parties, social networks, memes, book design, and political activism, to demonstrate a persistent tension between an outward disinterest in the profit and a disguised pursuit of capital. I theoretically engage with the work of Pierre Bourdieu to argue that coolness is more socially valuable than prestige in the contemporary reading space.
Research interests
- Australian literature
- Sociology of literature
- Modernist studies
- Cool studies