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

139 Pages·2003·1.59 MB·English

by  Joseph Epstein

Envy:
The Seven Deadly Sins
Joseph Epstein
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Envy
Pride
Michael Eric Dyson
Envy
Joseph Epstein
Anger
Robert A. F. Thurman
Sloth
Wendy Wasserstein
Greed
Phyllis Tickle
Gluttony
Francine Prose
Lust
Simon Blackburn
F
or over a decade, The New York Public Library and Oxford
University Press have annually invited a prominent figure in the
arts and letters to give a series of lectures on a topic of his or her
choice. Subsequently these lectures become the basis of a book
jointly published by the Library and the Press. For 2002 and 2003
the two institutions asked seven noted writers, scholars, and critics
to offer a “meditation on temptation” on one of the seven deadly
sins. Envy by Joseph Epstein is the first book from this lecture series.
Previous books from The New York Public Library/Oxford
University Press Lectures are:
The Old World’s New World by C. Vann Woodward
Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America by Robert Hughes
Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare’s Macbeth by Garry Wills
Visions of the Future: The Distant Past, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
by Robert Heilbroner
Doing Documentary Work by Robert Coles
The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet by Freeman J. Dyson
The Look of Architecture by Witold Rybczynski
Visions of Utopia by Edward Rothstein, Herbert Muschamp,
and Martin E. Marty
Also by Joseph Epstein
Fabulous Small Jews
Snobbery
Narcissus Leaves the Pool
Life Sentences
With My Trousers Rolled
Pertinent Players
The Goldin Boys
A Line Out for a Walk
Partial Payments
Once More Around the Block
Plausible Prejudices
The Middle of My Tether
Familiar Territory
Ambition
Divorced in America
Env y
The Seven Deadly Sins
Joseph Epstein
The New York Public Library
2003
Oxford New York
Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai
Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi
São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto
Copyright © 2003 by Joseph Epstein
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., and the New York Public Library,
2003
Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10016
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Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Epstein, Joseph, 1937–
Envy: the seven deadly sins / Joseph Epstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and Index.
ISBN 0-19-515812-1
1. Envy. I. Title.
BF575.E65E67 2003 179'.8—dc21 2003003630
All cartoons courtesy of The New Yorker: p. xvi © Mort Gerberg;
p. 10 © Barbara Smaller; pp. 24, 38 © Edward Koren; p. 30 © J. P. Rini;
p. 66 © J. B. Handelsman; p. 76 © Leo Cullum; p. 90 © Al Ross.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To my friend Gary W. Fisher,
who has a happy deficiency of the quality that is
the subject of this book.
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