176 Pages | 72 line illus.
Flatland is an extraordinary Victorian fantasy and satire on Victorian society in which the narrator, A Square describes life in two dimensions before encountering the third dimension and imagining the existence of a fourth - and more. This new edition taps into the fable's imaginative paralleling of today's string theory, as well as its discussion of Victorian theology, class, and gender issues.
This delightful novel combines astute social, philosophical, spiritual and mathematical observations with imaginative wit and humour, and like Lewis Carroll's fictions can be read at many different levels.
Rosemary Jann's introduction distils recent research on the Victorian intellectual contexts that produced Flatland and explains its relationship to the theological issues central to Abbott's career. It provides the most extensive discussion to date of the class and gender issues raised by the text and of the debates over the limits of scientific and mathematical knowledge in which it participated.
Includes the original line illustrations.
How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott's droll and delightful "romance of many dimensions" explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers' imaginations beyond the limits of their "respective dimensional prejudices."
This new edition begins with an introduction by Rosemary Jann that illuminates the social and intellectual context that produced the work and explains its relationship to the theological issues central to Abbott's career. It also provides the most extensive discussion to date of the class and gender issues raised by the text and of the debates over the limits of scientific and mathematical knowledge in which it participated.
Flatlands unique combination of astute social, philosophical, and mathematical observations with wit and humor can be read at many different levels, and will prove especially enjoyable to readers of Victorian literature and philosophy.