ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author begins by exploring the question: how do people experience envy, greed, and jealousy? The Russian writer, Yuri Olesha, has provided a superb description of the spiteful, spoiling essence of envy in his short novel, Envy, written not long after the Russian Revolution. One of the central characters is Ivan Babichev, a self-hating layabout and elder brother of an ambitious “People’s Commissar”. Consumed with self-pity, Ivan recalls a party at which he defamed and defiled “a little beauty” all dressed in pink and satin, who had the temerity to outsing, outdance, leap higher, and play better than anyone else. Devouring and defiling characterise grenvy, and distinguish the grenvious act from solely a greedy or envious one. The grenvious impulse is more common than pure greed or envy. In many countries the difference between envy and jealousy has been recognised in law.
