Male Jealousy

by Louis Lo

Published 1 January 2008
A well argued, comparative study of male jealousy in literature and film, informed by critical theory and engaging with key philosophical figures such as Derrida, Freud and Lacan."Male Jealousy: Literature and Film" is a critical and cultural theory-based study of male jealousy in western culture and its connections with paranoia. By tracing the meanings of jealousy and the representation of jealous men (married or unmarried, heterosexual or homosexual), Lo argues that jealousy is promoted within patriarchy and within what Derrida characterises as logocentricism, where to love is the desire to be loved, and where love cannot be guaranteed in any form of sexual relationship.Contrasting the difference between jealousy and its closely linked concept, envy, this book explores the economy of possession and its relationship to the body, and argues, controversially, that jealousy is an even more modern concept than envy.
Informed by critical theory, engaging in particular with Derrida, Deleuze, Freud, Lacan and Kristeva, the study offers close readings of key works by Cervantes, Shakespeare, Proust, Bunuel, Vidor and Almodovar, in which a spectrum of different forms of jealousy are portrayed.