At the Boundary of the Temperate and Frigid Zones: The North, the Sciences, and Landscape Appreciation

Abstract

This chapter introduces the third part of this book—geographical ways of knowing the north—and, focusing on the impact of scientific knowledge on landscape appreciation, addresses some apparent dualities or paradoxes in Romantic-scientific travelogues.1 These include long-accepted, apparent conflicts between Romanticism and the sciences, and the promulgation of myths of the north set against the gathering and presentation of empirical fact. Examination of these apparent paradoxes contributes to this book’s rethinking of the complex interactions between these travelers’ scientific interests, the Romantic contexts of their travels, and British imaginings of the north. It also challenges ingrained, traditional assumptions about the qualities of Romantic and scientific texts, and scientific travelers’ relationships with and experiences of northern landscapes and peoples. These interactions cannot simply be viewed as colonial or imperialistic enterprises, nor as entertaining, heroic adventure stories. Here, they are appreciated as a complex intertwining of personal interests, the contemporary intellectual zeitgeist relating to imaginings of the north, and physical and psychological engagements with landscapes and peoples.