Whereness: and its wherelessness

Introduction 

This collection brings together seven short stories by five writers on the theme of “whereness” and of course, by the same breath, “wherelessness”.   

What is whereness? A most allusive concept, perhaps it is best illustrated by stories themselves, though some academics have hazarded a definition. The most cited is from Hilary Kent (2020): whereness is “a feeling of knowing where you are in the scheme of things, of being routed to reality, of one’s mental map corresponding to the territory ‘out there’, of being in the X that marks the spot, of hereness”. On the flip side, wherelessness is described as “a feeling of whirling lostness, of fundamental disorientation and shuddering displacement, of missing or misaligned mapping” (Kent, 2020). One scholar (Muriel Pugh, 2021) has suggested that all stories are “about” whereness. Another (Mo Armstrong, 2019) has even adapted the paradigmatic diagram of the hero’s journey as one from whereness through various stages of wherelessness and back again.   

The latest academic research on whereness, particularly in the fields of literature and psychology, can be found in “Whereness: a compendium” published later this year by Greater Manchester Mental Health Press. The purpose of this collection is to showcase notable examples of this budding literary genre which can be read alongside the theory.  

The seven stories are all set in Greater Manchester, the birthplace of whereness studies. They feature: a woman who gets lost in the internet; a woman who falls in love with a camel; a woman’s relationship with a Greek restaurant; a man who inspects bridges’ souls; a woman literally chased by her past; a man’s search for the best government building; and a woman who wakes up with a radio for a head. As this list suggests, these whereness stories have one foot rooted firmly in the local and another in the surreal; and several share an international perspective. Whereness, then, despite being idiosyncratically Mancunian, is not parochial.  

Whereness, and its twin sister wherelessness, is for everyone everywhere. Indeed, whereness researchers posit the states are fundamental facets of the human condition. These seven stories explore whereness at times ruggedly, at times roundaboutly and, at times, they too get lost. I’m sure you’ll join me in forgiving the writers, at the helm of a bold new genre, a little wherelessness.  

Now, are you sitting comfortably? Where shall we begin…