John D . Rateliff calls this the " Doctor Dolittle Theme " in " The History of the Hobbit ", and cites the multitude of talking animals as indicative of this theme.
Although Christopher Tolkien did not work directly on " The History of The Hobbit ", the work is in a very similar vein to the " literary archaeology " of his " History of Middle-earth ".
Rateliff submitted a finished draft of the book to Christopher Tolkien, who, approving of the work, gave " The History of The Hobbit " his personal blessing to be published in association with his father s other works.
Further works authorized by the Tolkien Literary Estate include " The History of The Hobbit " in two volumes by John Rateliff and " The Annotated Hobbit " by Douglas Anderson, both with notes and early drafts by Tolkien.
With " The History of The Hobbit ", published in two parts in 2007, John D . Rateliff provides the full text of the earliest and intermediary drafts of the book, alongside commentary that shows relationships to Tolkien's scholarly and creative works, both contemporary and later.
John D . Rateliff calls this the " Doctor Dolittle Theme " in his book " The History of the Hobbit " and Tolkien saw this anthropomorphism as closely linked to the emergence of human language and myth : " . . . The first men to talk of'trees and stars'saw things very differently.