Robert Hellenga
AUTHOR

Robert Hellenga

Literature & Fiction
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Robert Hellenga used to ask, "What is the meaning of life?" Now he asks, "What experiences make life meaningful?" He's settled for an adjective rather than a noun. High on his list: teaching a good class, finishing a novel, sex, getting married, having children, cooking dinner, playing the guitar. The usual. But perhaps the highest on his list is having his three daughters leave after Christmas–because it's so sad. It's nostalgia, he realizes that. It's what he tries to avoid when he writes about Christmas, as he does in all his books. But he understands that the only thing worse than having the girls leave would be having them stay. According to Anais Nin "We write to taste life twice." But we also write to explore mysteries. Mystery is the reality; clarity-seeming clarity-is the illusion. Clarity means you've lost touch with the mystery, that you've succumbed to habit, which, in the words of Proust's Marcel, "conceals from us almost the whole universe." Mystery means that you're still awake. Hellenga is the author of six novels: The Sixteen Pleasures," "The Fall of a Sparrow," "Blues Lessons," "Philosophy Made Simple," "The Italian Lover," and "Snakewoman of Little Egypt." "Snakewoman" was included in The Washington Post list of best books of 2010 and the Kirkus Reviews list of top 25 novels of 2010.
Read more Read less
You're getting a free audiobook


You're getting a free audiobook.

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Try for $0.00

The Sixteen Pleasures

Most popular
View Details

Best Sellers

Product List
  • The Sixteen Pleasures Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $17.19 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $17.19 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Truth About Death Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $16.36 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $16.36 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Love, Death & Rare Books Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $21.49 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $21.49 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Snakewoman of Little Egypt Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $17.19 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $17.19 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Fall of a Sparrow Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $16.30 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $16.30 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Confessions of Frances Godwin Audiobook By Robert Hellenga cover art

    Regular price: $19.95 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $19.95 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Visit Amazon Author Central