James Robert Hightower (7 May 1915 – 8 January 2006) was an American Sinologist and professor of Chinese at Harvard University who specialized in the translation of Chinese literature. Although he spent his youth in Colorado, Hightower lived most of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts studying and teaching at Harvard.

Hightower was born to Loris Denzil and Berta (née McKedy) Hightower in Sulphur, Oklahoma, where Loris worked as a school principal. Hightower's mother died two years later in 1917, prompting his father to return home to Salida, Colorado to take up a position as school superintendent.

After completing high school, Hightower entered the University of Colorado Boulder and was a pre-medical Chemistry major. Hightower was also interested in literature and poetry: in his final year, having discovered Chinese poetry through the translations of Ezra Pound, he began taking courses in Chinese. Hightower became friends with writing student Jean Stafford, and both won fellowships to study philology for one year at the University of Heidelberg following graduation in 1936. Hightower attended the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and witnessed Jesse Owens win his now-famous gold medals. Hightower lost interest in his Philology classes at Heidelberg and spent time in Belgium and Paris, where he briefly attended the Sorbonne and met James Joyce, before returning to the US in autumn 1937.

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