| Portrait of Jennie | |
| Author: | Robert Nathan |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Mystery, fantasy, supernatural |
| Publisher: | A. A. Knopf (US) The Ryerson Press (Canada) |
| Pub 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."
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.