French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Rauch, Envy: A Tormented Passion
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
This book explores a tormented passion: envy. What is its history?
According to the Scriptures, this passion of the Devil is devastating. It attacks the divine order, but also sows schism and discord among men, undermines social relations, perverts the administration of justice, and corrupts the pursuit of truth.
In the 19th century, novelists and poets used it to illustrate the desires that fuel resentment and lie at the root of all kinds of hatred, whether racial or anti-Semitic. Now acting as an arbiter of consumer society, jealous envy is exploding on internet platforms that "host" cyberbullying, sowing terror among adolescents and sparking outrage among educators.
This book sheds new light on a tormented passion.
André Rauch, university professor and specialist in cultural history, is the author of numerous books on the body and passions, including Histoire du Premier sexe de la Révolution à nos jours (2006), L’amour à la lumière du crime (2009), Paresse. Histoire d’un péché capital (2013), and Luxure. Entre péché et jouissance (2016).
Read the table of contents.
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An article about this work can be read on nonfiction.fr:
Rooted in cultural history, André Rauch's study examines how envy has continuously transformed human relations across centuries. The author traces this dark emotion from its theological condemnation in the Scriptures—where it disrupts the divine order and fosters social discord—to its literary manifestations in nineteenth-century poetry and prose. By showing how writers used the passion to depict resentment and modern forms of hatred, the work establishes a bridge between classical moral categories and the anxieties of the industrial era.
In its final sections, the volume brings the inquiry into the contemporary digital age, analyzing how jealous envy fuels cyberbullying and terrorizes adolescents on internet platforms. Scholars and students of cultural history, sociology, and ethics will find this book a valuable resource for understanding the persistence of destructive passions. It serves readers seeking a deeper historical perspective on modern social media hostility, consumer culture, and the psychological roots of interpersonal conflict.
"Envy: A Reflection of the Evolution of Our Societies?", by Benjamin Caraco (online November 25, 2021).