ABSTRACT
The highland interior of Iceland is a landscape transformed by practices of automotive travel. In this chapter we trace the authorship of this landscape through some biographical accounts of those who established such practices in the first half of the 20th century. We relate this history to dilemmas that are evident in the present, concerning land use and politics of nature. At the heart of these dilemmas are certain constructions of the ‘freedom to travel’ that sit somewhat uneasily with conservation sensibilities. Landscape biography and the notion of authorship enable a fuller understanding of such controversies than a simple mapping of interests and stakeholders.
