Ideas worth spreading

An ode to envy

2,452,742 views | Parul Sehgal • TEDSalon NY2013

What is jealousy? What drives it, and why do we secretly love it? No study has ever been able to capture its "loneliness, longevity, grim thrill" -- that is, says Parul Sehgal, except for fiction. In an eloquent meditation she scours pages from literature to show how jealousy is not so different from a quest for knowledge.

What is jealousy? What drives it, and why do we secretly love it? No study has ever been able to capture its "loneliness, longevity, grim thrill" -- that is, says Parul Sehgal, except for fiction. In an eloquent meditation she scours pages from literature to show how jealousy is not so different from a quest for knowledge.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Parul Sehgal

Literary critic

See speaker profile

Parul Sehgal is an editor for "The New York Times Book Review."

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.