“Nature in a garb such as she wears nowhere else”: Ida Pfeiffer’s Journey to Iceland

This article analyses the account of Ida Pfeiffer’s itinerary in Iceland, A trip to Iceland and Scandinavia in 1845, the first travelogue written by a woman visiting this remote island, that develops a unique female gaze. Between an idealized vision of her destination and the scholarly aim of writing a detailed report of her itinerary, while travelling she gradually becomes aware of her position of outsider, both while interacting with the local people, the weird object of their puzzled attention; and as an observer of the Icelandic wilderness, gradually improving her competence as a scholar through her passionate field observation.