Author | Robert Nathan |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Mystery, fantasy, supernatural |
Publisher | A. A. Knopf (US) The Ryerson Press (Canada) |
Publication date | 1940 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 212 |
Preceded by | Winter in April |
Followed by | They Went on Together |
Portrait of Jennie is a novel by American writer Robert Nathan, first published in 1940.[1] This story combines romance, fantasy, mystery, and the supernatural. The most successful of Nathan's books, it is considered a modern masterpiece of fantasy fiction.
Judith Merril called Portrait of Jennie "one of the most durable successes in the fantasy business,"[2] and Ray Bradbury wrote of the book, "It touched and frightened me when I was twenty-four. Now, once more, it touches and frightens."[2]
A struggling Depression-era artist encounters a young girl in a park who inspires him to paint portraits instead of landscapes. As he repeatedly encounters the girl, each time she is several years older, and is apparently "slipping through time."
A half-hour radio adaptation of the novella was presented in 1946 on the CBS Radio show Academy Award Theater, with Joan Fontaine and John Lund.[3]
The film rights to the book were obtained by David O. Selznick,[4] and in 1948 he produced a film starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.
In addition, Lux Radio Theatre presented an hour-long adaptation of the film on October 31, 1949, again starring Joseph Cotten, but this time Anne Baxter in the role of Jennie.