Hugh Lofting

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Hugh John Lofting (born January 14, 1886 in Maidenhead , Berkshire , England , † September 26, 1947 in Topanga , California , USA ) was an English writer who, with his stories about Doctor Dolittle , who learned the languages ​​of animals, then those of the Insects and finally that of plants, wrote classics of youth literature.

Life

Lofting was one of six children born to his father John Brien Lofting and his Irish mother, Elizabeth Agnes Gannon. After attending Mount St. Mary's Jesuit School in Chesterfield , Derbyshire , Lofting studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA and at the London Polytechnic in England. He wanted to be a civil engineer and get around the world. After a brief job as an architect, he worked as a surveyor in Canada in 1908/1909 and on the railroad in Lagos, West Africa, from 1910 to 1912 . Then he also worked for the railway in Havana , Cuba . Lofting returned to the United States in 1912, married Flora Small and moved to New York , where he began his writing career. His short stories were published in various magazines, but did not contain any children's stories or drawings by him. In 1913 his daughter Elizabeth Mary and in 1915 his son Colin MacMahon were born. When the First World War broke out in 1914 , Lofting worked as a British citizen for the British Ministry of Information and was drafted a year later as a lieutenant in the Irish Guards, with whom he fought in Flanders in 1917/1918 . It was here that he began to write his first "Doctor Dolittle" stories.

As a result of a serious injury from hand grenade fragments, Lofting was released early as an invalid from the army; he returned to New York with his family in 1919. Another move to Connecticut followed, where Lofting wrote a new book about Doctor Dolittle and other stories almost annually. In 1927 his wife Flora died. In 1928 he married Katherine Harrower Peters, who died that same year after a serious illness. In 1928 the "Doctor Dolittle" series was supposed to end with Doctor Dolittle on the moon , but like his fellow writer Arthur Conan Doyle , whose Sherlock Holmes did not want to miss the audience, Lofting was also urged by fans to write more stories .

In 1935 Lofting married Josephine Fricker, a Canadian with German roots. Their son Christopher Clement was born in 1936.

Hugh Lofting died in 1947 at the age of 61 after a long and serious illness. He was buried in Killingsworth , Connecticut.

Doctor Dolittle

The first stories about Doctor Johann Dolittle , who at the time of Queen Victoria lived in the fictional English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh and learned the language of animals, wrote to Lofting in the form of illustrated letters from the trenches of the First World War in Flanders his children.

In 1920 the first book appeared under the title The Story of Doctor Dolittle ( Doctor Dolittle and his animals ). For the sequel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle Lofting received the renowned children's book prize Newbery Medal in 1922 . Ten more books were to follow. The book series was adapted for radio plays as well as for film (including Doctor Dolittle , 1967) and television (as an animated series ).

Quote

"For years it was a constant source of shock to me to find my writings amongst 'Juveniles'. It does not bother me any more now, but I still feel there should be a category of 'Seniles' to offset the epithet. "

“For years it was a recurring cause of shock for me to read my writings among the 'youth books' [in English also as 'immature'; Translator's note]. That doesn't bother me anymore, but I still believe that there should be a category of 'seniles' to make up for the nickname. "

- Hugh Lofting : Porridge Poetry, 1924

Works

Sorted by year of publication. Lofting wrote almost all of the drawings in the original books himself.

  • The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) (German Doctor Dolittle and his animals, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3573-0 )
  • The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) (German Doctor Dolittle's floating island, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3592-7 )
  • Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923) (German Doctor Dolittle's Post Office, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3599-4 )
  • The Story of Mrs. Tubbs (1923) (Eng. The evil landlord and the good animals 1930. Silhouettes by Lotte Reiniger)
  • Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924) (German Doctor Dolittle's Circus, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3525-0 )
  • Porridge Poetry (1924) (no German translation known)
  • Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1925) (German Doctor Dolittle's Zoo, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3546-3 )
  • Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926) (German Doctor Dolittle's animal opera, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-3550-1 )
  • Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927) (German Doctor Dolittle's greatest journey, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4017-3 )
  • Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928) (German Doctor Dolittle on the Moon, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4018-1 )
  • Noisy Nora (1929) (no German translation known)
  • The Twilight of Magic (1930 Illustrations by Lois Lenski) (German: Die Wundermuschel 1937)
  • Gub-Gub's Book, An Encyclopaedia of Food (1932) (German Göb-Göb's book, Williams + Co, Berlin, 1933)
  • Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933) (German Doctor Dolittle's Return, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4019-X )
  • Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book (1936) (sayings for every day of the year, quoted from all works, no German translation known)
  • Tommy, Tilly, and Mrs. Tubbs (1936) (no German translation known)
  • Victory for the Slain (1942) (no German translation known)

published posthumously:

  • Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948) (German Doctor Dolittle's mysterious lake, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4015-7 )
  • Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950) (German Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4021-1 )
  • Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952) (German Doctor Dolittle's new adventure, Dressler - ISBN 3-7915-4022-X )

Two little booklets (16 pages) for Colgate Company:

  • The Story of Zingo - The Commercial Traveler (1924)
  • Zingo and the Magic Beasts (1926)

Dressler Jugendhefte No. 1–12, undated (1950):
(Quote: "The story in this issue is taken from the Doctor Dolittle books by Hugh Lofting from Cecilie Dressler Verlag.")

Adventure with Doctor Dolittle:

  • Book 1 trip to Africa
  • Book 2 The Hermit's Secret
  • Book 3 Dr. Dolittle as a bullfighter
  • Book 4 The search for the "Big Arrow"
  • Book 5 The fastest post office in the world
  • Book 6 The Serpent's Message
  • Book 7 The fire in the manor house
  • Book 8 The Mysterious Testament
  • Book 9 Escape from the Circus
  • Book 10 The Strange Passenger
  • Book 11 Nino, the talking horse
  • Book 12 Tragedy of the Pipinella

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lofting, Hugh
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lofting, Hugh John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Maidenhead , Berkshire, England
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 1947
Place of death Topanga , California, USA