Robert Nathan

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Robert Nathan
Born	(1894-01-02)January 2, 1894 New York City, U.S.
Died	May 25, 1985(1985-05-25) (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, poet
Nationality	American
Notable works	The Bishop's Wife Portrait of Jennie
Spouse	Anna Lee (7th)
Relatives	Maud Nathan (aunt) Annie Nathan Meyer (aunt) Emma Lazarus (cousin) Benjamin Cardozo (cousin)
Website
www.robertnathanlibrary.com

Robert Gruntal Nathan (January 2, 1894 – May 25, 1985) was an American novelist and poet.

Biography[]

Nathan was born into a prominent New York Sephardic family. He was educated in the United States and Switzerland and attended Harvard University for several years beginning in 1912. It was there that he began writing short fiction and poetry. However, he never graduated, choosing instead to drop out and take a job at an advertising firm to support his family (he married while a junior at Harvard). It was while working in 1919 that he wrote his first novel—the semi-autobiographical work Peter Kindred—which was a critical failure. But his luck soon changed during the 1920s, when he wrote seven more novels, including The Bishop's Wife, which was later made into a successful film starring Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.

During the 1930s, his success continued with more works, including fictional pieces and poetry. In 1940, he wrote his most successful book, Portrait of Jennie, about a Depression-era artist and the woman he is painting, who is slipping through time. Portrait of Jennie is considered a modern masterpiece of fantasy fiction and was made into a film, starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten.

In January 1956 the author wrote, as well as narrated, an episode of the CBS Radio Workshop, called "A Pride of Carrots, or Venus Well-Served".

Nathan's seventh wife was the British actress Anna Lee, to whom he was married from 1970 until his death. He came from a talented family—the activist Maud Nathan and author Annie Nathan Meyer were his aunts, and the poet Emma Lazarus and Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo his cousins.

Works[]

Novels[]

Novel collections[]

• , 1938 (collection containing , , The Bishop's Wife, The Orchid, and ). Introduction by Stephen Vincent Benét.
• , 1946 Armed Services Edition, published by the Council on Books in Wartime (shortened version of The Barly Fields, containing The Bishop's Wife, The Orchid, There Is Another Heaven, and Benét's introduction)

Plays[]

• , 1953 (collection of two plays)
• , 1966

Children's books[]

• , 1938
• , 1941
• , 1950 (collection containing and )
• , 1959
• Tappy, 1968

Screenplays[]

• The White Cliffs of Dover, 1944 (additional poetry)
• The Clock, 1945
• Pagan Love Song, 1950

Nonfiction[]

• The Concert, 1940
• , 1943

Poetry[]

Radio programs[]

• , 1956
• Report on the We'Uns, 1956

Television programs[]

• The Mark Twain Television Theatre, 1953.^[2]

Miscellaneous[]

• , 1950 (book containing an interview with Mr. Nathan by Harvey Breit and the poem: Advice To My Son)
• "Robert Nathan Reading His Poems with Comment at His Home in Los Angeles, Calif., in April 1962", 1962 (tape reel sound recording)

References[]

• The Married Look, Robert Nathan. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1950 (author bibliography)

External links[]

• Robert Nathan Library – "the official library"
• Works by Robert Nathan at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Robert Nathan at Internet Archive
• "A Pride of Carrots (Venus Well Served)", MP3 file at the "CBS Radio Workshop" section of Internet Archive
• Robert Nathan at Library of Congress Authorities, with 88 catalog records
• Robert Nathan Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.