Customer Reviews

Envy: The Seven Deadly Sins

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There are few things more satisfying to enviers than the demise or expense of their targets. If you can't have it, whatever it is, all the more better that they should suffer humiliation and misery; a trademark of envy, according to the author, known as "Schadenfreude". In this book, the author looks at envy in nearly all of its incarnations, ranging from envy of the youth, envy of beauty, envy of the Jews, and makes an unusual case in pointing out that societies designed to purge envy from the people instead create more envy within (a bit hard to follow for me, personally). He provides tips on "Spotting the Envious" people, and also helps better define "envy" from its related forms, such as resentment, ressentiment, and jealousy. He says while jealousy involves matters of the heart, envy involves matters of other's possessions; jealousy, despite popular thought, is not envy.

Of all the books I've read in the Seven Sins series so far, this has provided the easiest read. It's easy to follow, and the author makes his points with a humorous edge, and without delving too much into inner psychiatry or politics.

Epstein is an artful and insightful essayist. His thoughts on ' envy' will I believe help most readers better understand the subject, and reflect more deeply upon their own relation to it.
He points out that ' envy' of all the vices has the least positive to be said about it. About this I am not so sure. Surely most of us are ashamed of envying especially when the other person or persons envied is someone close to us who we should want the good fortune of as much as our own. But envy is not necessarily the worst of sins. We after all often by envying express a certain kind of admiration , and recognition of the value others have which we would like to. Envy becomes truly evil only when it moves us to action to truly hurt another or deprive them of their good. And even then in many instances such ' action'( Think of various kinds of ' fair competition') is not necessarily sinful.
Epstein points out that we are jealous of what is our own, and envious of what is others.(which we ourselves do not have) Epstein writes a series of short essays some of which deal with qualities and characteristics of others that we envy, Shakespeare's ' this man's art and that man's scope'.
One central point on the whole subject of envy is how foolish we so often are in envying others when they have their own life and story, and fate. Often we envy someone who we believe to have a better fortune than our own only to learn that they have sufferings and troubles beyond those we imagined.
'Envy' is a seemingly inescapable element of our nature. And this little book may do an enviable job of helping us understand it a bit better.
And this said with the minor praise of one who might envy Mr.Epstein's talent and success which is considerable.

The first of a projected series about the 7 deadly sins by various authors, commissioned by the Oxford University Press, Joseph Epstein's small book, ENVY follows on the heels of his treatise on SNOBBERY: The American Version. His research of these maladies make him a kind of connoisseur of soul sickness. Examples from literature, observation, and introspection document their pervasiveness and the possible utility of these psychological phenomena. He differentiates between jealousy and envy which are often confused; jealousy being applied to one's own possessions and envy to that of others. Envy, he says, is felt in varying degrees causing discomfort from a twinge to a holocaust. The ability to deal with such subjects with candor and a soupcon of humor is the mark of a very special mind.

The book is better than the reviews above suggest. The format is very cute, kind of like the new PG Wodehouse editions: small book, small print, 14 short chapter in 109 pages. Reading about sins, you don't want quirky originality. Epstein is so well-read this little book contains a good collection of the wisdom on this ageless subject.

As the Chicago Tribune once noted, "Reading an essay by Joseph Epstein is much like watching Joe DiMaggio hit a pitched ball: the pleasure is in watching a difficult art performed with matchless grace and ease." This latest collection by one of our greatest essayists in recent decades will be well received by readers of such prior collections as the bestselling "Snobbery: The American Version," "Narcissus Leaves the Pool," "Ambition: The Secret Passion," and "With My Trousers Rolled." Those who are unfamiliar with Epstein's work (can there be anyone unfamiliar such classics as "The Art of the Nap," "Waiter, There's a Paragraph in My Soup" or "Whaddya Drivin?) will find this to be an excellent and highly engaging introduction to possibly our smartest and most engaging critic since Mencken. I read "Envy" not once but twice within a single day. You will too.

"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

Cheery to the point of complacency, Epstein has little to say about this rancorous emotion. If envy is indeed a deadly sin, Epstein knows nothing about how and why it kills. He does, as others have already noted, quote (or repeat) what others have said, but he has little original analysis of these ideas.

So wrote the poet W.H. Auden in his "Many Happy Returns," and Joseph Epstein takes it as the exhortatory epigram to this little book on envy. Part of a horribly uneven series on the 7 deadly sins, Epstein's book is one of the better ones (which is to say that it could well provoke envy on the part of the less successful authors in the series).

Epstein argues that envy is the most insidious of the 7 deadlies because those of us who suffer from it rarely recognize it for what it is. Most of us know when we're angry or lustful or greedy. But envy is the "hidden" vice that masquerades as something else, and so it's difficult to recognize and overcome. To make matters worse, we live in a culture that encourages envy--although, once again, it's disguised as "competition," "improving one's lifestyle," or "making the most of one's opportunities."

Epstein's analysis of envy is written entertainingly, and the text is punctuated with wryly appropriate cartoons from the "New Yorker." In his analysis of envy, he makes useful distinctions between (for example) jealousy and envy and schadenfreude and envy. His discussion of ressentiment (yes, that's with two s's), which he borrows from the philosophers Max Scheler and Friedrich Nietzsche, is especially useful, although of no surprise to the professional philosophers who read his book.

But there are two areas where I wish Epstein had developed his theme a bit more (even as I recognize that the point of the series is to offer short, pithy treatments of the 7 deadlies). Epstein mentions in passing (Chapter 1) Aristotle's claim that not all varieties of envy are immoral or destructive, and famously cites emulation as one example. Epstein dismisses a virtuous emulative envy as "not so easily done," and quickly moves on. But it's the hard case like this that's truly interesting, and one wishes that Epstein had tackled it.

Moreover, Epstein's suggestion for breaking the hold of envy, on both personal and cultural levels, is the cultivation of "self-honesty, self-analysis, and balanced judgment" (p. 97). Fair enough. But this comes close to suggesting that envy can be overcome through sheer will power, and this in turn suggests that the envious person is aware of her envy but just isn't strong-willed enough to overcome it. Yet if Epstein's starting assumption that envy is insidious is correct, things may not be this simple. Sincere self-honesty and self-analysis may not be strong enough to disclose hidden vice. Balanced judgment is irrelevant without such a disclosure.

All in all, however, a good introduction to the green-eyed monster.

In the bibliography of this diminutive book on a gargantuan subject, the author writes: "Mine is a book only partly built upon other books. Much more of its material comes from simply living in the world and looking about. Even more, it derives from gazing into my own heart, which has never for long, alas, been entirely envy-free." Thus a study of envy becomes a near confessional and self-searching as to the "why" of envy. Why does one feel envy towards things others have? Does envy figure largely in the history of the world and its political and social evolution? Is envy an integral part of human nature, or have we created a world that is laced to the core with envy? Of course there are few, if any, answers to these questions above the controversial. This book provides a brief and entertaining survey into the world of envy. The subject being as it is, the book is of a more necessarily philosophical tone.

Those who have studied envy may not find much new here, apart from the confessions of the author concerning the envy that has impacted his life. These confessions allow one to reflect on one's own trangressions of envy and to feel a little comfort that others have also allowed themselves to sink so low. It may be a tautology to say that those without envy cannot possibly be human. Who, no matter how successful, has not had a twinge of envy for another's wealth, lifestyle, physique, spouse or lover, moral virtue or indifference to moral depravity? Who has never smiled at the failure of such people, even though no real ill will is directed at them? The only comforting words to those self-reflecting on these issues are "you are not alone."

This book also addresses more technical issues, such as the levels that envy can occur at. There's jealousy, envy, resentment, and, finally, "ressentiment" (which takes the form of "I'm not good at painting, but painting as an art form is overvalued anyway"). You don't have to be moral scum to succumb to any of these forms of envy. What you can do is be aware of them and not allow them to control your life. This book will at least guide you in that, and it may make you appreciate the levels your envy has not reached (if you're so fortunate). But again, the subject being as it is, much that is subjective enters the playing field. How does one know if one is acting from an envious urge or a feeling of injustice done to one or others? These can be dangerous lines to draw, and interpretations of motivations can, and will almost always inevitably be, mired down in cross-interpretation.

The book does a good job of bashing the envy created by "socialism" and the tyrannies that arose in its name in the Soviet Union and China, but capitalism as a potential hotbed of envy is only lightly touched upon. Surely the contemporary United States is brewing with envy on multiple levels, driven by insatiablilty and spattered with the concern for the individual over the collective (a generalization, true, but one for which countless examples exist). The book would be even more relevant if it touched heavier on the envy created by the world's current superpower, and the ramifications of this envy both domestically and globally. To be fair, he does give us the examples of the Greeks, who knew that they were riddled with envy, and made efforts to keep the emotion in check. The country that I live in would do very well to learn from, at least on this topic, our seemingly wiser ancestors.

So take what you will from this tiny book. It is more of a popular book than a scholarly treatise (which is likely the aim of the series that can trace itself back to an idea of Ian Fleming's). If you have never studied or read a book on envy, then dig right in, there is plenty here to chew on. There is a long reading list in the bibliography (do not skip the bibliograpy!) for those seeking further enlightenment or tentacled confusion - depending upon your point of view. Go ahead and don't be ashamed to get a little medieval, along with the author, and CONFESS!! YOU ARE FILLED WITH ENVY!! CONFESS!! CONFESS!! Pardon me, my Richelieu is showing.

The Kindle version was very poor. I don't know how this was scanned, but the font was difficult to read at any size; dictionary look-ups were unreliable because of the way they parsed the words.

For the most part I like the Kindle, but the rendering of this book was very poor.

Some disclosure of the quality and or type of rendering of a book would be useful.