Robert Nathan

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Robert Nathan

Robert Nathan (born January 2, 1894 in New York City , † May 25, 1985 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American writer.

life and career

Robert Nathan came from a respected New York family, relatives of him were the lawyer Benjamin N. Cardozo and the poet Emma Lazarus . He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and later Harvard University . The time at Harvard sparked Nathan's interest in writing, he dropped out of his studies and worked in the advertising industry from then on. Nathan's first, partly autobiographical novel, Peter Kindred , was published in 1919 and was about a shy outsider at Harvard. Peter Kindred proved unsuccessful and Nathan turned to poetry and fantastic novels in the 1920s. His 1927 published novel The Bishop's Wife was for example in 1947 with Cary Grant in the lead role filmed . He was soon able to make a name for himself, as F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to have called him one of his favorite authors.

Nathan's work is considered extensive, until the 1970s he brought out one or two works each year, some of which became bestsellers. Nathan had loyal followers as well as critics who found his fantasy stories unlikely to be quirky. The American historian Herbert Feist attested Nathan in the 1960s that he treated bitter realities with fantasy and a certain irony, and that he had achieved success over such a long period of several generations. Probably his greatest success was the fantasy novel Portrait of Jeanny , published in 1940 , which tells the love story of a poor painter in the Great Depression with a ghost. The novel is considered a smaller classic of fantasy literature, about which Ray Bradbury ( "It touches and scared me (...)" ) and Michael Bishop ( "An almost perfect little book" ) , among others, praised it. In 1948 the novel by William Dieterle was filmed with Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones in the leading roles .

He worked as a screenwriter for several Hollywood films in the 1940s , which is why he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s. In 1975 the last work by the 81-year-old Nathan appeared under the title Heaven and Hell and the Megas Factor . He then worked on an autobiography, but dropped the project because of his ailing health and disappointment in the changed world. “What I really want is to give people support in this wilderness of death and nuisance. And myself too. So when I can, I try to take the poison and hatred out of my books; but I still hate, just like that. "

Robert Nathan - described in his New York Times obituary as a "handsome, gracious, and polite man" - had a tumultuous personal life, his first five marriages divorced, and his sixth wife died. In his seventh marriage, he was married to the British-American actress Anna Lee from 1970 until his death .

In 1936 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Filmography (selection)

As a screenwriter

Film adaptations of his works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Nathan Library
  2. ^ Robert Nathan's obituary in the New York Times
  3. ↑ Portrait of Jeannie in Fantastic Fiction
  4. ↑ Robert Nathan's obituary in the Los Angeles Times
  5. ^ Robert Nathan's obituary in the New York Times
  6. ^ Members: Robert Nathan. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 17, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Nathan, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1985
Place of death Los Angeles , California