A fear of being abandoned but above all a desire to dominate others' lives - jealousy is an ambiguous passion, devastating for some and unfamiliar to others. The author outlines jealousy's historical evolution, from the age-old terror of betrayal to its current social downgrading, and describes what biology, psychology and psychoanalysis have to say on the topic. The book includes examples drawn from literature, film and theatre, but clinical cases of paranoid and obsessive jealousy also help complete the rich and often surprising portrait of the many ways we can experience jealousy.

Sergio Benvenuto is a psychoanalyst and philosopher, is a researcher at the Institute for Cognitive Science and Technology in Rome and co-edits the "European Journal of Psychoanalysis".