Who was 'Mr Rang'?

25 August (edited)
2024-8-25 7:02:30 AM UTC

A guest post based on Letter Carpenter #297: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Mr Rang • August 1967 (#670)

WHO WAS ‘MR RANG’?

An enduring mystery for Tolkien scholars has been the identity of ‘Mr Rang’ who wrote to Tolkien in 1967 asking for enlightenment on various names and words, especially Rohan and Erech. Tolkien replied with some asperity at first, but then warmed to his theme and ended with a detailed explanation of Eärendil, He then decided not to send the draft, but wrote a note to say that he had sent a much shorter reply. The draft remained in his papers among his files of letters, and so appeared in the Letters as Carpenter #297: Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Mr Rang • August 1967 (#670), to our great enlightenment.

As ‘Mr Rang’ has not identified himself, even though he may well have bought the Letters and caught up with the answers late in the day, we have not bothered to try to unmask him. However, while reviewing my folders about William Morris from 2005 I came across a copy of the draft which I had filed because of its discussion of Eärendil, and suddenly it came to me that among my earlier books about Tolkien, which I had begun collecting from 1973, as soon as I got a full-time job, was Shadows of Heaven by Gunnar Urang, (SCM 1971). Urang was a Professor of English at Newark State College, New Jersey. The timing fits, if he was thinking about writing a book on Tolkien in 1967.

In the event the book covers Lewis, Williams and Tolkien, with a concluding chapter, and is written from a Christian perspective, He begins by asserting the literary merit of adult fantasy, and then the value of the works’ Christian teaching. Novels are discussed in detail, but The Chronicles of Narnia are completely omitted, presumably as they are not for adults. He has done a lot of research on his chosen authors, as is evidenced from the notes which give the source of his quotations. His claim for the novels’ literary merit is interesting, as he published ten years before Shippey! His book deserves to have been more cited than it has been. As he could not draw on Tolkien’s long letter to describe his sources, he cites Lin Carter’s Tolkien (1969) instead, a very underrated book in my opinion.

I don’t know why Tolkien referred to him as ‘Mr Rang’ unless he had typed his letter and then signed it by hand without typing his name as well. Oddly Tolkien should have recognized such a Germanic/Nordic name and surname, and may have wondered why they belonged to an American!

I have found out a little more about him:

About the author (2005) from Google:
Gunnar Urang held teaching and administrative posts in several colleges before being ordained an Episcopal priest in 1984. As a clergyperson he has continued his teaching ministry as well, both in local church contexts and in Vermont's Diocesan Study Program. Urang is the author of 'Shadows of Heaven', a study of religious themes and motifs in the fiction of C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Well, I hope you agree that this is the best guess, after all these years!