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A Square, a respectable resident of a two-dimensional world called Flatland, describes his society, where women are straight lines, soldiers are sharp…
A Square, a respectable resident of a two-dimensional world called Flatland, describes his society, where women are straight lines, soldiers are sharp triangles and priests are nearly circles, and rank depends on the number of one's sides. Then a strange visitor, a Sphere, arrives from the third dimension, and the Square's world is turned upside down.
Context and significance
Published in 1884 by a London headmaster, Flatland is both a playful introduction to the idea of dimensions and a satire of Victorian class and the treatment of women. Mathematicians and physicists still recommend it as a way to imagine worlds beyond our own.
About the author
Edwin A. Abbott (1838–1926) became headmaster of the City of London School at twenty-six and led it for nearly twenty-five years, while writing books on English grammar, on Shakespeare's language, on how to write clearly and on theology.
He is remembered today for one small book, Flatland, published in 1884 under the pen name A Square: a mathematical fantasy about a two-dimensional world that is also a satire of Victorian society. Mathematicians still recommend it as an introduction to the idea of other dimensions.