Fans’ Reception of Tolkien: A Mythology for the Contemporary World (Vol. I: Cultural Expansion and Psychological Identification) examines the active cultural reception of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium and argues that contemporary Tolkien fandom constitutes a form of “living mythology.” Moving beyond purely textual analysis, the study explores how readers become participants, interpreters, and co-creators of Tolkien’s myth through diverse cultural practices: fan scholarship, gaming, online debates, artistic production, pilgrimage, and communal rituals. Drawing on Mircea Eliade’s concept of the “living myth,” alongside insights from myth studies, literary theory, and fan studies, the monograph proposes that Tolkien’s literary myth—though consciously created in modernity—has acquired functions analogous to those of traditional mythologies. It demonstrates how Tolkien’s works expand into contemporary culture and how fans symbolically “dwell in Middle-earth,” integrating mythic patterns into existential experience. Volume I focuses on the socio-cultural and psychological dimensions of this phenomenon, showing how the myth of Arda becomes embedded in collective practices and personal identification. The study argues that Tolkien’s Legendarium, together with its participatory reception, may be understood as a mythology for the contemporary world: not merely narrated, but lived.