Luis José Silva Michelena, best known as Ludovico Silva (1937–1988) was a Venezuelan poet and philosopher. A

Marxist philosopher Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

, he developed an account of

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

as symbolic

surplus Surplus may refer to: * Economic surplus, one of various supplementary values * Excess supply, a situation in which the quantity of a good or service supplied is more than the quantity demanded, and the price is above the equilibrium level determ ...

Life

Luis José Silva Michelena was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

on February 16, 1937, the son of Hector Silva Urbano and Josefina Michelena. He was educated at a private school, the Colegio San Ignacio, Caracas, before travelling to study philosophy, literature and philology in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. From 1970 to 1986 he was a professor of philosophy at the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...

. From 1964 to 1968 he was head of the

Caracas Athenaeum The Caracas Athenaeum (known in Spanish as the ''Ateneo de Caracas'') is a cultural institution centred on the arts. It is currently located in Macaracuay, at the Southeast corner of Caracas, after having been expelled by the Bolivarian Revolutio ...

. With

Miguel Otero Silva Miguel Otero Silva (October 26, 1908 – August 28, 1985), was a Venezuelan writer, journalist, humorist and politician. A figure of great relevance in Venezuelan literature, his literary and journalistic works related strictly to the socio-politi ...

he founded the literary magazine ''Lamigal''.Jorge Alberto Calles-Santillana
Ludovico Silva and the move to critical studies in Latin American communication studies
''Javnost'', Vol. 13, No. 3 (2006), pp.69-80 Heavy drinking caused his brain to be affected by excess

ammonium The ammonium cation is a positively-charged polyatomic ion with the chemical formula or . It is formed by the protonation of ammonia (). Ammonium is also a general name for positively charged or protonated substituted amines and quaternary a ...

, and in 1986 he was committed to a mental institution for 33 days. He died in Caracas on December 8, 1988.

Works

* ''Tenebra'', 1964 * ''La Plusvalía Ideológica'' deological surplus 1970 * ''El estilo literario de Marx'' arx's literary style 1970 * ''Teoría y práctica de la ideología'' heory and practice of ideology 1971 * ''Anti-manual para uso de marxistas, marxólogos y marxianos'' nti-manual for the use of Marxists, Marxologists and Marxians 1975 * ''El estilo literario de Marx'' arx's literary style 1975 ** ''Marx’s Literary Style'', Verso 2023, ISBN 9781839765537. * ''Ensayos temporales: Poesía y teoría social'' emporary essays: poetry and social theory 1983 * ''La alienación como sistema: la teoría de la alienación en la obra de Marx'' lienation as a system: the theory of alienation in Marx's work 1983 * ''La interpretación femenina de la historia y otros ensayos'' he female interpretation of history and other essays 1987 * ''Opera poética, 1958-1982'' oetical works, 1958-1982 1988 * ''La torre de los ángeles'' he tower of the angels 1991

References

1937 births 1988 deaths Venezuelan poets Venezuelan philosophers 20th-century philosophers {{Venezuela-philosopher-stub