Ludovico Silva


Luis José Silva Michelena, best known as Ludovico Silva was a Venezuelan poet and philosopher. A Marxist philosopher, he developed an account of ideology as symbolic surplus.

Life

Luis José Silva Michelena was born in Caracas 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, France and Germany. From 1970 to 1986 he was a professor of philosophy at the Central University of Venezuela. From 1964 to 1968 he was head of the Caracas Athenaeum. With Miguel Otero Silva he founded the literary magazine Lamigal.
Heavy drinking caused his brain to be affected by excess ammonium, and in 1986 he was committed to a mental institution for 33 days. He died in Caracas on December 8, 1988.

Works

Tenebra, 1964La Plusvalía Ideológica, 1970El estilo literario de Marx, 1970Teoría y práctica de la ideología, 1971Anti-manual para uso de marxistas, marxólogos y marxianos, 1975El estilo literario de Marx, 1975
  • * Marx’s Literary Style, Verso 2023, ISBN 9781839765537.Ensayos temporales: Poesía y teoría social, 1983La alienación como sistema: la teoría de la alienación en la obra de Marx, 1983La interpretación femenina de la historia y otros ensayos, 1987Opera poética, 1958-1982, 1988La torre de los ángeles, 1991