The current volume, being the first of two dedicated to 'Tolkien and Modernity', grew out of the wish to further the exploration of Tolkien as a 'contemporary writer', i.e. an author whose literary creations can be seen as a response to the challenges of the modern world. It comprises papers that focus on the following themes: Tolkien and the 20th century, feminist theory, time, creativity, and freedom. Although one could argue that most of these topics have been discussed since the beginning of literature, it is with the shaping events of the first half of the 20th century - the World Wars, Einstein's theory of relativity, totalitarianism and the atomic bomb - that they gained a new and immediate relevance.