Ways of addressing nature in a northern context: Romantic poet and natural scientist Jónas Hallgrímsson

This chapter focuses upon tourism that is organised around the natural spectacle of the Aurora Borealis in Iceland. It investigates the experience of these Northern Lights as a means to interrogate recent theoretical conceptions of landscape. The aurora are a diverse array of shards, veils, ribbons, curtains, cascades, flashes, beams and numerous other effusions that constitute an ever-shifting panoply of light in the Northern skies of the world. A widespread desire to witness them has given rise to an expanding tourist sector where visitors travel to an increasing number of destinations within or near to the Arctic Circle. Iceland is one of the most popular destinations, where aurora tourists either resides in urban centres and venture into rural settings at night on organised trips or stay in rural settings where the lights may be witnessed in situ. Sightings, however, cannot be guaranteed even if the ideal wintry conditions of clear skies prevail.