James D Hart

James David Hart
Born	April 18, 1911 San Francisco, California, United States
Died	July 23, 1990 (aged 79) Berkeley, California
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	Stanford University, Harvard University
Scientific career
Fields	American literature, English literature
Institutions	University of California, Berkeley

James David Hart, CBE (April 18, 1911 – 23 July 1990) was an American literary scholar and professor at University of California, Berkeley for fifty-four years. He is most notable for writing The Oxford Companion to American Literature and A Companion to California.

Hart was born in San Francisco, California. He received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, followed by a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

While studying for his doctorate at Harvard University, Hart conceived and began work on an American literature companion book. It is reported that in 1934, after looking for such a book among second-hand bookstores on what was Fourth Avenue below 14th Street in Manhattan, New York to no avail, Hart entered the offices of Oxford University Press on Fifth Avenue upon passing. Inside, on a whim, he told the receptionist that he had an idea for a book, which prompted editor Margaret Nicholson to come out to meet him. He questioned her about the existence of such a book, to which she replied, "We've been looking for someone to do that." She took him in to see director of the press Geoffrey Cumberlege. Cumberlege wanted to see examples of his work, and Hart had none. Furthermore, Cumberledge was sailing to Europe on the RMS Queen Mary the next day, so Hart returned to his hotel room and produced essays on Ralph Waldo Emerson and Richard Henry Dana amongst others, and delivered them to Cumberledge the next morning. A few months later he was granted a contract, and wrote the book alone. Critic Alfred Kazin said it is "the most valuable handbook I know on our literature," and had been on his desk for nearly half a century.

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