A Whiff of Nothing: The Atmospheric Absence of Smell

Abstract

This article uses the figure of “presence of absence” to consider the phenomenological significance of dimensions of smell that easily slip out of apprehension. The discussion highlights how not only loud smell but also absence of smell manages to exert an influence over the way people feel. Smells linked to emotions and bodily sensations are addressed as atmospheric, and facets of an atmospheric absence of smell are unfurled within the framework of “the smell of the hospital.” The case demonstrates how the atmospheric presence of absence of smell becomes of significance in the hospital as it is acted and reacted upon as a sense of (1) longing, (2) avoidance, (3) care and (4) cleanliness.