Robert Nathan

writer
Novella

Portrait of Jennie


In 1938, painter Eben Adams struggles to find his muse and put food on the table until a young girl named Jennie appears to him from some two decades earlier, beseeching him to wait for her. Over the next few months of visitations in Eben’s time, Jennie grows into her twenties, and Eben falls in love with his muse. —Michael Main
Never before had it occurred to me to ask myself why the sun should rise each morning on a new day instead of upon the old day over again; or to wonder how much of what I did was really my own to do. It may be that here on this earth we are not grateful enough for our ignorance, and our innocence. We think that there is only one road, one direction—forward; and we accept it, and press on. We think of God, we think of the mystery of the universe, but we do not think about it very much, and we do not really believe that it is a mystery, or that we could not understand it if it were explained to us.
A portrait painting of a young brunette woman in a black dress hangs in an old
                frame in front of a snowy hill.
  • Fantasy
  • Romance
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Portrait of Jennie


Unlike the original novella, only Eben can see Jennie, bringing up the possibility that she is but a ghost. The ghost theory is supported by her mild premonitions of their evenutal fate (which also differs in some ways from the novella), but we nevertheless hold out some hope that director (and the revolving cadre of five writers) intended the film to portray Jennie’s time travel. —Michael Main
There’s something different about that child. I wondered if my pencil could catch it.
Jennifer Jones (as Jennie Appleton), wearing pearls, snuggles close to
                top-hatted Joseph Cotton (as Eben Adams).
  • Fantasy
  • Romance
  • Debatable Time Travel
Short Story

Encounter in the Past


No image currently available.
  • Undetermined
  • Undetermined Time Travel