Synopsis
An invaluable entry in the history of Pacific Northwest literature, Doctor Mallory explores the realities of life in a small logging town on the Oregon coast in the early twentieth century, where Robert Mallory, an optimistic young doctor, attempts to maintain his ideals and integrity in the face of personal, social, and professional challenges. In this debut novel that became a bestseller for W.W. Norton in 1935, Hart reveals the beauty and cruelty of characters forging lives at the northwestern edge of the country. Out of print for decades, Doctor Mallory fascinates now not only for its depiction of coastal Oregon during World War I and the Great Depression, but also for Hart's compassion for men and women whose struggles were often endured amid social condemnation and shattering solitude.
About the Authors
Alan Hart (1890-1962), assigned female at birth, was born in Hall's Summit, Kansas, the only child of Albert and Edna Hart. After his father died when Hart was two, Hart and his mother moved to Albany, Oregon, where his mother remarried. As a child, Hart dressed and regarded himself as a boy. He attended Albany College (now Lewis & Clark), transferred to Stanford, then returned to Albany and graduated in 1912. He graduated from the University of Oregon Medical School (now Oregon Health & Science University) in 1917 with the highest honors. In medical school, Hart wore the required skirts for women but masculinized his appearance by wearing men's coats and collars. After graduating, he persuaded a doctor to perform a full hysterectomy on him, making Hart the first trans person in the United States to receive gender-affirmative surgery. Afterward, Hart cut his hair short, wore only men's clothing, and changed his name to Alan L. Hart. While living in Washington state during the Depression, Hart published four socially-conscious novels, all medical dramas set in the Pacific Northwest. In 1948, he and his wife, Edna Ruddick, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where Hart earned a master's degree in public health from Yale. Hart dedicated the rest of his professional life to tuberculosis research and was one of the first doctors to document how tuberculosis was transmitted and how it could be slowed by detection. Hart and his wife lived together in Connecticut until Hart's death from heart failure in 1962.
Alexander Houston (they/he) is a writer, educator, and community organizer in Portland, Oregon. Their work focuses on literature, queer/trans studies, and youth empowerment. Alongside his academic and literary work, they direct programs for LGBTQ+ youth that center belonging, creativity, and care.
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