Fiction

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Name: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Author: Edwin A. Abbott
ISBN: 9780451529763

by Edwin A. Abbott, Valerie Smith

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Overview

With wry humor and penetrating satire, Flatland takes us on a mind-expanding journey into a different world to give us a new vision of our own. A. Square, the slightly befuddled narrator, is born into a place which is limited to two dimensions—irrevocably flat—and peopled by a hierarchy of geometrical forms. In a Gulliver-like tour of his bizarre homeland, A. Square spins a fascinating tale of domestic drama and political turmoil, from sex among consenting triangles to the intentional subjugation of Flatland's females. He tells of visits to Lineland, the world of one dimension, and Pointland, the world of no dimension. But when A. Square dares to speak openly of a third, even a fourth dimension, his tragic fate climaxes a brilliant parody of Victorian society.

An underground favorite since its publication in England in 1884, Flatland is as prophetic a science-fiction classic as the works of H.G. Wells, introducing aspects of relativity and hyperspace years before Einstein's famous theories, and it does so with a wonderful, enduring enchantment.

Century-old classic of British letters that charmed and fascinated generations of readers; witty satire of Victorian society and unique insights into the fourth dimension.

Synopsis

Classic of science (and mathematical) fiction--charmingly illustrated by the author--describes the adventures of A. Square.

The Forward - Isaac Asimov

The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions.

About the Author, Edwin A. Abbott

The author of more than fifty books on classics, theology, history, and Shakespeare, Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926) was headmaster of the City of London School and one of the leading educators of his time. Thomas Banchoff is Professor of Mathematics at Brown University and author of "Beyond the Third Dimension".

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Editorials

Saturday Review

"This pre-Einstein geometrical fantasy is one of the best things of its kind that has ever been written, for it is more than an ingeniously sustained fantasy: it is a social satire, with wit as sharp as the sub-lutrous end of a Flatland woman; it is an easy philosophical introduction to the Fourth Dimension; and it is a rebuke to everyone who holds that there is no reality beyond what is perceptible by human senses."