Ideas worth spreading

An ode to envy

2,452,756 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

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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.