Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott

comedy, arts · EN-US

If you've never heard the term “Mathematical Fiction” before, Edwin Abbott Abbott's 1884 novella, Flatland can certainly enlighten you! Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions was published in 1884 and since then, it has been discovered and re-discovered by succeeding generations who have been delighted by its unique view of society and people.The plot opens with a description of the fictional Flatland. The narrator calls himself “Square” and asks readers to “Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Squares, Triangles, Pentagons, Hexagons and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about... but without the power of rising above the surface or sinking below it, very much like shadows...” This is a country where the “solid” or the three dimensional do not exist. The women are Straight Lines, while the men, depending on their status, are figures with three or more sides. The lowest class are the Triangles, while the highest class of all are