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Doctor Dolittle

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File:The Story of Doctor Dolittle frontispiece.jpg
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh

Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 The Story of Doctor Dolittle. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in their own languages. He later becomes a naturalist, using his abilities to speak with animals to better understand nature and the history of the world.<ref name="Schmidt, G.D. 1992">Schmidt, G. D. (1992). Hugh Lofting. New York: Twayne Publishing</ref>

Doctor Dolittle first appeared in the author's illustrated letters to his children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England, where Doctor John Dolittle lives in the fictional English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country.<ref name="Schmidt, G.D. 1992" />

Doctor Dolittle has a few close human friends, including his young assistant Tommy Stubbins, and Matthew Mugg, the Cats'-Meat Man. The animal team includes Polynesia (a parrot), Gub-Gub (a pig), Jip (a dog), Dab-Dab (a duck), Chee-Chee (a monkey), Too-Too (an owl), the Pushmi-pullyu, and a white mouse later named simply "Whitey".<ref name="Schmidt, G.D. 1992" /> Later on, in the 1925 novel Doctor Dolittle's Zoo, Whitey founds (with the doctor's help) the Rat and Mouse Club, whose membership eventually reaches some 5,000 rats and mice.

Inspiration

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One inspiration for his character appears to be the Scottish surgeon John Hunter.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Stories

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File:The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.djvu
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920) begins the series. The sequel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) won the prestigious Newbery Medal. The next three, Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923), Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924), and Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926) take place during and/or after the events of The Story of Doctor Dolittle. Five more novels followed, and after Lofting's death in 1947, two more volumes of short, previously unpublished pieces appeared.

The stories, in order of publication, are:

  1. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920)
  2. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)
  3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923)
  4. Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924)
  5. "Doctor Dolittle Meets a Londoner in Paris" (1925)
  6. Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1925)
  7. Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926)
  8. Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927)
  9. Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928)
  10. Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopedia of Food (1932)
  11. Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933)
  12. Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book (1936)
  13. Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (copyrighted 1923, but not published until 1948)
  14. Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950)
  15. Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952)
    • "The Sea Dog"
    • "Dapple"
    • "The Dog Ambulance"
    • "The Stunned Man"
    • "The Crested Screamers"
    • "The Green Breasted Martins"
    • "The Story of the Maggot"
    • "The Lost Boy"

Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopedia of Food (1932) is purportedly written by the pig Gub-Gub. It is a series of food-themed animal vignettes. In the text, the pretence of Gub-Gub's authorship is dropped; Tommy Stubbins, Dr. Dolittle's assistant, explains that he is reporting a series of Gub-Gub's discourses to the other animals of the Dolittle household around the evening fire. Stubbins also says that the full version of Gub-Gub's encyclopaedia, which was an immense and poorly-organized collection of scribblings written by the pig in a language for pigs invented by Dr. Dolittle, was too long to translate into English.

Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book (1936) is a little day-book illustrated with pictures and quotations from the earlier stories. It appeared between Doctor Dolittle's Return and Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake.

"Doctor Dolittle Meets a Londoner in Paris" is a short story included in The Flying Carpet, pp. 110–19 (1925), an anthology of children's short stories and poems with illustrations by Cynthia Asquith.

The character entered public domain in the 1990s, which allowed for the legal creation of derivative works based on it without the need to acquire permission from the Lofting estate, which was required previously.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For example, in April 2021, the Japanese biologist Shinichi Fukuoka created a new story Dr. Dolittle Saves Galápagos Islands which appeared in The Asahi Shimbun.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Chronology

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The main events of The Story of Doctor Dolittle take place in 1819 or 1820,<ref>"I can never be quite sure of my age", said Polynesia. "It's either a hundred and eighty-three or a hundred and eighty-two. But I know that when I first came here from Africa, King Charles was still hiding in the oak-tree — because I saw him. He looked scared to death". ... "Dear old Africa!" sighed Polynesia. "It's good to get back. Just think — it'll be a hundred and sixty-nine years to-morrow since I was here!" — The Story of Doctor Dolittle</ref> although the events of the early chapters seem to be spread over several years. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle begins in 1839.<ref>"Of course now, when almost everybody in the whole world has heard about Doctor Dolittle and his books, if you were to go to that little house in Puddleby where my father had his cobbler's shop you would see, set in the wall over the old-fashioned door, a stone with writing in it which says: 'JOHN DOLITTLE, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE IN THE YEAR 1839'". — The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, part 1, chapter 6.</ref>

Dolittle returned from his journey to the moon in Doctor Dolittle's return during a full lunar eclipse that was visible low in the sky one late evening in spring. This was the first full lunar eclipse for a couple of years, and it took place in May 1844 in real life.<ref> Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"There were several high trees near the house; and at half-past ten the moon looked as though it might very soon be hidden by their top branches—that is, if one tried to watch the eclipse from the garden". — Doctor Dolittle"s return, chapter 3</ref>

Backstory references indicate that Dr. Dolittle travelled to the North Pole in April 1809, and already knew how to speak to some species of animals at that date, suggesting that the early chapters of The Story of Doctor Dolittle take place before that date.<ref>"Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me in a body and told me there was a great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew, they said, that human beings would do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal. So would I please keep it a secret". — The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, part 2, chapter 11.</ref> However, it is possible that the internal chronology is not consistent.

The internal chronology of the books is somewhat different from the publishing order. The first book is followed by Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924), Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926), and Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950). Only then follows the second book, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), continued by Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1925). After that, the publishing order is restored; Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927) is followed by Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928) and Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933), ending with Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948).<ref name="Schmidt">Schmidt, G.D. (1992). Hugh Lofting. New York: Twayne Publishing</ref>

Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923) can't be placed anywhere in the internal chronology without creating contradictions. Doctor Dolittle's Circus contains references to events that occurred in Post Office, indicating that Post Office must precede Circus.<ref>In Part 1, Chapter 1 of Circus, Matthew Mugg says to Dolittle, "I got your letter about the sparrow." This refers to a letter written in Part 2, Chapter 1 of Post Office. In Circus Part 1, Chapter 6, Sophie the seal says she heard about the Doctor through the animals' post office. Part 1, Chapter 7, concerns a seagull who brought Dolittle "the warning about Cape Stephen Light," an incident from Post Office.</ref> But the Prologue of Post Office indicates just as definitely that it must happen sometime after Circus.<ref>Circus begins with the pushmi-pullyu's arrival in England, and the Prologue of Post Office states that it takes place after the pushmi-pullyu has had "a long stay in England."</ref> Furthermore, in the narrative sequence that stretches from the end of the first book, through Circus and Caravan, to Green Canary, there's no gap into which Post Office could be inserted. For the sake of a reading order, the most logical options are to place Post Office immediately before Circus, or immediately after Green Canary.

The stories, in order of internal chronology, are:

  • "The Crested Screamers" (takes place within Part One, Chapter 12 of Doctor Dolittle's Caravan; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "The Lost Boy" (takes place within Part One, Chapter 12 of Doctor Dolittle's Caravan; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "The Sea Dog" (takes place at the beginning of Doctor Dolittle's Garden; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "Dapple" (takes place at the beginning of Doctor Dolittle's Garden; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "The Dog Ambulance" (takes place at the beginning of Doctor Dolittle's Garden; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "The Stunned Man" (takes place at the beginning of Doctor Dolittle's Garden; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))
  • "The Story of the Maggot" (given a greatly reduced summary at the conclusion to early printings of Part Two, Chapter 4 of Doctor Dolittle's Garden; collected in Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952))

Adaptations

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There have been a number of adaptations of the Doctor Dolittle stories in other media:

Animation:

Audio:

Stages

Film:

Video games:

  • 2006: Dr. Dolittle PS2 video game produced by Aqua Pacific and distributed by Blast! Entertainment Ltd.

Appearances in other languages

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A Russian children's novel Doctor Aybolit (Doctor Oh-it-hurts) by Korney Chukovsky (first published in 1924) was loosely based on the stories of Doctor Dolittle. The original novel credited Lofting's work,<ref name=Credit> Template:Cite web</ref> as did Chukovsky in his memoirs.<ref name=Chukovsky>Template:Cite web</ref>

Norwegian playwright, songwriter, and illustrator Thorbjørn Egner made an album called Doktor Dyregod (Doctor good-toward-animals) with songs and story based on Doctor Dolittle.

All the books in the series have been translated into Japanese by Masuji Ibuse and into Lithuanian by Pranas Mašiotas.

See also

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References

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