Envy: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York Public Library Lectures in Humanities)

"The entire advertising industry...can be viewed as little more than a vast and intricate envy-creating machine." ~ Joseph Epstein At any one point in life we all seem to be struggling with one of the seven deadly sins. Just when we think we have one area under control another sin rears its ugly head. Envy it seems is one of the ugliest sins leading us to hatred, hostility, spite and destruction. To be honest I've felt envy only a few times in my life and it so shocked me into reality that I changed my actions and took another path almost instantly. It was easy to distinguish from jealousy, which I have felt more frequently and mostly in regards to romantic relationships. Joseph Epstein does a good job discussing both jealousy and envy and also reveals his own envy. In fact for a great deal of the book he discusses his own feelings of envy towards other writers, public figures, etc. This book deals with many issues related to envy like anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, envy of the young, covetousness, feminism (envying men), Marxism, professional envy, sibling rivalry and the happiness felt when someone fails. If you have ever felt envious you may recognize your feelings somewhere in this book. This book also has the cure for envy as stated in this quote: "Jesus among his apostles attempted to root out envy by rooting out its arch cause: rivalry. Jesus attempted to convince all that earthly rewards are at best minor rewards. Glory, riches, power were as nothing compared to what was on offer in the world beyond." ~ pg. 87 ~The Rebecca Review Malice that cannot speak its name, cold-blooded but secret hostility, impotent desire, hidden rancor and spite--all cluster at the center of envy. Envy clouds thought, writes Joseph Epstein, clobbers generosity, precludes any hope of serenity, and ends in shriveling the heart. Of the seven deadly sins, he concludes, only envy is no fun at all. Writing in a conversational, erudite, self-deprecating style that wears its learning lightly, Epstein takes us on a stimulating tour of the many faces of envy. He considers what great thinkers--such as John Rawls, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche--have written about envy; distinguishes between envy, yearning, jealousy, resentment, and schadenfreude ("a hardy perennial in the weedy garden of sour emotions"); and catalogs the many things that are enviable, including wealth, beauty, power, talent, knowledge and wisdom, extraordinary good luck, and youth (or as the title of Epstein's chapter on youth has it, "The Young, God Damn Them"). He looks at resentment in academia, where envy is mixed with snobbery, stirred by impotence, and played out against a background of cosmic injustice; and he offers a brilliant reading of Othello as a play more driven by Iago's envy than Othello's jealousy. He reveals that envy has a strong touch of malice behind it--the envious want to destroy the happiness of others. He suggests that envy of the astonishing success of Jews in Germany and Austria may have lurked behind the virulent anti-Semitism of the Nazis. As he proved in his best-selling Snobbery, Joseph Epstein has an unmatched ability to highlight our failings in a way that is thoughtful, provocative, and entertaining. If envy is no fun, Epstein's Envy is truly a joy to read. -- from publisher description

Malice that cannot speak its name, cold-blooded but secret hostility, impotent desire, hidden rancor and spite-all cluster at the center of envy. Envy clouds thought, writes Joseph Epstein, clobbers generosity, precludes any hope of serenity, and ends in shriveling the heart. Of the seven deadly sins, he concludes, only envy is no fun at all.
Writing in a conversational, erudite, self-deprecating style that wears its learning lightly, Epstein takes us on a stimulating tour of the many faces of envy. He considers what great thinkers-such as John Rawls, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche-have written about envy; distinguishes between envy, yearning, jealousy, resentment, and schadenfreude (a hardy perennial in the weedy garden of sour emotions); and catalogs the many things that are enviable, including wealth, beauty, power, talent, knowledge and wisdom, extraordinary good luck, and youth (or as the title of Epstein's chapter on youth has it, The Young, God Damn Them). He looks at resentment in academia, where envy is mixed with snobbery, stirred by impotence, and played out against a background of cosmic injustice; and he offers a brilliant reading of Othello as a play more driven by Iago's envy than Othello's jealousy. He reveals that envy has a strong touch of malice behind it-the envious want to destroy the happiness of others. He suggests that envy of the astonishing success of Jews in Germany and Austria may have lurked behind the virulent anti-Semitism of the Nazis.
As he proved in his best-selling Snobbery, Joseph Epstein has an unmatched ability to highlight our failings in a way that is thoughtful, provocative, and entertaining. If envy is no fun, Epstein's Envy is truly a joy to read.

The best-selling author of Snobbery: The American Verson offers a lively, philosophical treatise on the deadly sin of envy, examining the diverse faces and manifestations of envy, the thoughts of the great philosophers, and discussing the malice that underlies envy, in the first volume in a new series exploring each of the Seven Deadly Sins. (Philosophy)