Flatland

In this speculative satire, we see the wedding of geometry and Victorian society, one that spawns a series of philosophical questions regarding the knowledge of truth. Edwin A. Abbott spins a beautiful critique of Victorian practices and ideology based on a two-dimensional world in this book, where one's class increases with the number of edges/sides he possesses, stupidity varies inversely with the degree of an isosceles' apex, irregularity is not tolerated, and women are condemned to exist as straight lines, in despised servitude to their polygonal male counterparts.

The square covers several social practices that persist in present-day circumstances (however deep-seated and obscure they may be), such as the practice of sight-recognition amongst the members of Flatland in discerning squares from pentagons, equilateral triangles from isosceles triangles, and so forth. This parallels the obsession with class superiority and ascent in the Victorian era. Abbott also questions phrenology and physiognomy - the superficial equation of one's outer appearances with his intellect and morality. Irregular triangles are assumed to be a morally degenerate caste, either condemned to mutual murder or to be used as teaching examples in Flatland's elementary schools. Another point of contention in Flatland is that of misogyny; females are relegated to a purely domestic arena due to their affectations and presumed inability to reason or rationalise. The naturalness of such discrimination is dredged up and brought under public scrutiny in this novella, as Abbott, an ardent advocate for female education, sought to correct the misguided precepts of his era.

All this is done methodically, as he gradually builds upon his argument against solipsism, first with the Square's interactions with members of Lineland, then Pointland, and finally Spaceland. In the second part of his novella, he proves our incapacity to attain a complete knowledge of truth because of the fact that one's perceptions are but a framed slice of reality. With the enlightenment of higher dimensions, the Square finds society unreceptive to such transcendental information and basically resistant to reform.

In this semi-mathematical work, it is perhaps apt that Abbott describes the nature of Flatland and its inhabitants in a point-by-point analysis that comprises 12 short chapters. The structure of his argument for the fallibility of human perceptions is admirable in its system, much like the unravelling of a mystery. Also memorable is the cliff-hanger with which the theory of higher dimensions is concluded (or unconcluded). Space-Time, the tesseract, and similar abstract concepts of transcendental geometry which elude understanding are given a wide berth for development, one which several authors have courageously entered and taken the liberty to expound upon. Sphereland (Dionys Burger), Flatterland (Ian Stewart), and Spaceland (Rudy Rucker) validate this claim.

Flatland can be found in Borders' Literature section.

Anon.