Envy: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York Public Library Lectures In Humanities),Used

Malice That Cannot Speak Its Name, Coldblooded But Secret Hostility, Impotent Desire, Hidden Rancor And Spiteall 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, Selfdeprecating Style That Wears Its Learning Lightly, Epstein Takes Us On A Stimulating Tour Of The Many Faces Of Envy. He Considers What Great Thinkerssuch As John Rawls, Schopenhauer, And Nietzschehave 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 Itthe 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 Antisemitism Of The Nazis.As He Proved In His Bestselling 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.