‘The land of the glorious fjords … is so easily accessible’: Infrastructure and Identity in Travel Guides to Norway, 1870–1920

As Norway became an increasingly popular destination in the latter half of the nineteenth century, British travellers turned to guidebooks to structure their travel. Guidebooks to Norway were published in international series by John Murray, Thomas Cook and Baedeker, but also by local travel agents such as Thomas Bennett. Norway seemed to offer an escape from the urban and industrial, yet travellers relied on modern networks of transport and infrastructure. The 1916 guide, Sunlit Norway, was published by the Bergen Steamship Line and the Norwegian State Railways. Visual and textual depictions of infrastructure are prominent and this involvement of transport companies also suggests that the use of certain forms of infrastructure was not simply assumed but actively encouraged. Considering guidebooks as a form of travel writing shows how this travel was fundamentally transnational and highlights the involvement of local people in tourist practices. The presence – or absence – of local people in travel guides provides insight into the impact of tourism on local communities. It also complicates the representations of Norway found in travelogues and travel guides in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reemphasising the modern and alternative ideas of the nation.