Best 1922 Adventures (9)
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February 13, 2017
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1922 adventure novels. Happy 95th anniversary!
Hugh Lofting’s fantasy adventure The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.
When Tommy Stubbins, the narrator of the story, finds an injured squirrel, he winds up at the home office of animal-whispering veterinarian Doctor Dolittle. Polynesia, Dolittle’s parrot companion, teaches Tommy the animal language. Learning that Long Arrow, a naturalist friend of the Doctor’s, is missing, Dolittle and Tommy, accompanied by Polynesia and assorted human and animal crew members (including a cat’s meat man, Luke the Hermit, the chimp Chee-Chee, and an African native named Bumpo), set sail in The Curlew. The crew visits Spain, where they end the practice of bullfighting; the boat is wrecked; they rescue Long Arrow from inside Hawk’s Head Mountain; they battle the Bag-jagderags; Dolittle becomes a king; and they befriend an enormous Pink Sea Snail, inside the shell of which they sail home.
Fun facts: The second Doctor Dolittle book is five times as long as its predecessor (The Story of Doctor Dolittle, 1920) and the writing style is pitched at a more mature audience. It won the Newbery Medal for 1923. Alas, there are racist depictions of African natives; later editions would be bowdlerized.
Let me know if I’ve missed any 1922 adventures that you particularly admire.